Broody Hens

Argh! Like buses, broody hens always seem to come at once. The irony of these four hens from my breeding pen of four Indian Game hens is that if they're all broody none of them are laying any eggs! 

 Also not sure sure the nest box can take them all in there at the same time! It must get pretty warm.

With broody hens I tend to leave them pretty much alone but I do chuck them off the nest once a day, I even do this when they're sitting on eggs, as they sometimes won't look after themselves by feeding and drinking properly. Also lets them do a big poo away from the nest - which is a good way to help keep things clean. 

Anyone else have too many broody hens at the moment?

Chicks In October

My girls were far more excited about this mishap that I was. 

A hen has managed to hatch out a clutch of eggs on the 11 of October - the Perils of free ranges hens I guess. 

Rubbish photo - I'll get some better ones later! 

Although it's always nice to have some new chicks this has given me some housing issues as there is no way free range chicks will last more than five minutes around here. So last night I gathered them up and put them in my broody coop. The young pullet and mother that were in there already aren't ready to go into the big wide world yet so they got shoved into my little greenhouse, problem solved - for now! 

If it doesn't go too cold too quickly these chicks have a chance but it's far too late for them really, I might add a bit of insulation on the pen they're in for a couple of weeks and make sure they have plenty of bedding.

What's the latest you've had chicks hatch and survive?

Chicks Come Early

I'm now feeling much better - thank you to every one for the well wishes. I think it must have been some sort of 24 hour bug and I'm feeling really guilty about it, as my dad, who came to help out with the children, has now got it. No need to guess who's to blame for that one! I just hope he feels better soon and it doesn't spread to the rest of my family! 

 On a brighter note we had some chicks hatch yesterday. Two days earlier than I had marked on the calendar, so I guess she must have been sat on them in the coop for a little longer than I thought before separated her from the rest of the flock! 

 Out of seven eggs, six hatched, one chick was deformed/injured so had to be dispatched straight away (away from the sight of the children) but five chicks isn't bad really. I bet they'll all be cockerels now though! 

 The girls love them, it's going to be as much as I can do to keep Ev away from them! She's really gentle with the chicks and helped me pick up all the egg shells and tidy the nest then told her mum all about it when she got home. What a great way for a little person to learn about life and food!

Melissa seemed fascinated by them as well so hopefully I've got two budding young poultry keepers in the making!

Chicks Have Hatched

Yesterday our chicks hatched!

A happy little girl with her new chicks

 Four out of the seven eggs hatched out. Unfortunately the mother decide to move on with her little brood so when I got back from work another chick was half out of his shell and peeping but the egg was cold. I've broken the number one rule and helped him out of his shell and popped him back under the mother for the night. I doubt he'll survive but he's got more of a chance this way than any other!


A healthy chick

My little girl was so excited to see them but she's so calm around them. She sits on my lap and only strokes them when I tell her she can (she let out a squeal of excitement when she first did). It's lovely to see her with them.
Another hen has gone broody so I think I might hatch out some more!

Broody Hen

Sorry no updates over the last week or so. I've been so busy with work and everything else that I haven't had time. I plan to have a good catch up on blogs sometime soon, so sorry for my lack of comments!

Clucking hen

 And as a follow on from my last post, no sooner had I moved the two silkies out of their arc, another hen went broody. She kept it up for a few days so I decided to separate her off from the others and put some eggs underneath her. The eggs are just from my chickens here, so no pure breeds, but it will be interesting what they turn out like!

Only seven eggs but she's only a small hen

Not a happy hen when I chuck her off her eggs for a drink and a feed for 5 mins a day!

Nearly two weeks in so hopefully my little girl will have some chicks to play with soon.