Mrs

[bronze]

Same day as my next lot are due. Race you Actually I've had my incubator slightly high in the hope they hatch early and so before the end of term.

[LittleBoPeep]

Hi Gallina, I think my chicks (if any) are due to arrive a week after yours. I know what you mean about it not being that interesting. Tink is out once a day, has a run about, some food and back on eggs. Other chickens have been ok with her but pretty sure they would forget if they didn't see her everyday.

 

Am trying not to get too worked up about them hatching and just letting nature take its course. However, the children are very aware of what's going and don't miss a thing.

 

Have you got a special lamp yet to keep them warm once hatched (it may have a special name but am not exactly clued up yet on all the terms).

[Egluntyne]

Mum will keep them warm, you won't need a lamp.

[Gallina]

I don't think I will be getting any chicks....

 

My Mother Hen who has been wonderful for two weeks shot out of the Eglu when I opened it this morning. I thought she was hungry, but it still took me by surprise.

 

She never went back in again, and the clutch of eggs is cold. I don't imagine there is any chance they could develop further even if she did go back in.

 

Why would she have changed her mind so suddenly about motherhood? She has been a comatose tea-cosy up until now.

 

I shall try again next year with an incubator. My next-door neighbours have 14 chicks at the moment from theirs. They took the eggs out of the incubator when they pipped and stuck them under their two broody hens.

[Egluntyne]

Oh...bad luck.

[Yolky]

I am sorry to hear that

[WitchHazel]

Oh Gallina, I'm so sorry to hear that.

 

Dare I say: Maybe it's worth asking the question (Why would she do that?) on the Practical Poultry forum?

 

Looking forward to hearing about it next year.

[Egluntyne]

I wonder if a fright put her off.

[bronze]

Not pleasant I know but have you tried cracking them open. They may have been infertile or died earlier on in shell. Mum birds can tell which is why they often kick them out. Eggs are surprisingly resilient though so it may have been worth incubating them. My incubator got turned off for about 9 hours during one of my hatches and I still got some chicks, late and some had failed to carry on developing but it was worth putting it on again.

[lisa33]

Oh No.

 

Sorry to hear about this.

[Gallina]

We broke the eggs open, and there were no developing chicks, which makes me feel better.

 

The eggs I bought may not have been fertilized, or else they failed before I even started. So Buffie knew what she was doing.

 

I've put her back in with the other hens, who are treating her like a stranger. She is still puffed up and a little agitated.

[superjules]

Sorry to hear the news Gallina, what a disappointment.

 

Is Buffie still a pullet? Was this her first broody spell? I have been told that first timers are a lot less reliable so don't automatically go down the incubator road next time.

 

Hope she fits back into the flock quickly.

[ubereglu]

Sorry to hear that your eggs were infertile, this happens a lot with cochins and something most breeders experience as cochin cockerals due to their size often go infertile quite quickly. Broodies are ever so clever though and Buffie evidently knew that the eggs simply wouldn't hatch.

[Gallina]

Thanks to everyone for their kind words. I am not too disappointed; after all, there aren't actually any chicks to grieve over, and even if there had been they would all probably have been cockerels (knowing my luck), so I have been spared.

 

Buffie is back in with her old friends and they have stopped attacking her now that they are sure she knows her place (which is one lower than it was before).

 

She was too young to be a stepmother (I bought the eggs for her). But I don't think she did anything wrong.

[beach chick]

what a shame, but glad to hear the others have let her back into the flock.