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Maggie Mays Long And Arduous Road To Becoming A Mother.

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Poor old Maggie May, the road to Motherhood hasn't been an easy one :roll: She went broody about five or six weeks ago. With other broodies that were already on eggs the last thing I needed was another broody :roll: Normally what I find works well with my girls is to fence them off in a part of the garden with no coop or next box, just food & water with nights in the garage. It wouldn't work for MM though, she'd act normal to fool me but be superglued to the nest box as soon as I put her back over her side.

 

In the end I just felt so sorry for her that I caved in about bought six white Cochin eggs on Ebay. I knew that she could cover five eggs so intended to bin the sixth. My eleven year old daughter Molly was horrified by the potential loss of life and insisted on trying to incubate it in the airing cupboard :shock: Surprisingly the temperature was almost spot on in there at times and Molly was utterly devoted to turning her egg three times a day. MM meanwhile embraced her Cochin eggs and the brand new broody coop I'd bought especially for her. I think I spoil my chooks too much :whistle:

 

Candling was a huge disappointment, none of the eggs were fertile. Molly was upset about her airing cupboard egg but realises it probably wasn't anything to do with the unconventional incubation, none of the eggs were ever going to hatch regardless.

 

Not wanting to make MM wait any longer or have an even later hatch I decided I'd best try to find some day olds to give to her at night. I just happened to mention my predicament to my chicken keeping friend in Swindon and by the most amazing coincidence he had Cochin eggs just about to hatch in his incubator! He'd made a mistake when buying the eggs on Ebay and had accidentally bought twelve instead of six, as you do of course :lol: The seller also included three extras so he had far too many than he actually needed. He put six under a broody and the rest in the incubator. Disaster struck when just before they were due to hatch his broody was accidentally shut out of her coop for several hours! He guessed some eggs might be lost or that they might be late. Day 21 came and went for the incy eggs too without any hatching. I read last week that Cochins took 22 days though so passed on that bit of info and both kept our fingers crossed.

 

Day 22 and finally the incy eggs started to hatch! First out was a splash followed by another splash. Both had open navels though :( They remained in the incy and seemed to be doing ok. Day 23 and a blue hatched and two of the broodies eggs did too. She then decided she only wanted a small family and wandered off with her two chicks leaving the other eggs to get cold yet again :roll: Those eggs were then shoved in the incy just incase they were still alive by some miracle.

 

Anyway I went and collected the three incy hatched chicks last night. The blue chick was fine and dandy, the splashes were not though. One had a pasted vent but it's navel had closed. I washed it under a tap and cleaned it up. The other splash didn't look too brilliant but I thought I'd give it until this morning before making a decision. It took the decision out of my hands and died in the night. I didn't get much sleep worrying about how MM was doing with her new family that appeared in the dead of night! I was up early and out to check on her and found the babies tucked up under her as they should be. Throughout the day I've seen both chicks up eating and drinking but MM hasn't left the nest with them yet. It's funny to see her trying to roll the chicks under her like she does with eggs :lol: I hope that tomorrow she feels like taking them out for some grass in the run. Then I might be able to take photos.

 

Day 24 is today and two more chicks have hatched in the incy! And a third is on it's way. My friend goes to work on a bus that passes through the village and so to save me another 20 mile round trip the plan is that on Thursday morning he's taking the three new chicks on the bus and I'm going to meet him at the bus stop for a quick hand over as he passes through :lol: I have to get up at silly o'clock :shock: At breakfast time MM will find her family has increased in size again. I don't think chickens can count anyway :whistle:

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Brilliant :clap: The things we do for our chickens.!

 

I pleased that Maggie May is finally a mother. It sounds like it hs been quite a challenge to pander to her maternal instincts.

I have to say that I've sat here chuckling about your friend sitting on the bus with chicks. I should imagine that the chicks would attract as much attention as new born baby or a fluffy puppy does on the bus. I don't think he'[s going to get the quiet, undisturbed journey he may be hoping for that morning :lol:

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It was actually three splashes, well supposed to be anyway but I've noticed one isn't what it said on the tin, it's got clean legs instead of feathered ones :lol: Yet another Ebay surprise :lol: It'll be fun watching it grow up, my money is on Orp or Light Sussex, it has white feathers coming through.

 

MM accepted her new kids without fuss this morning and has done a great job with them today :D

 

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MM teaches the new kids how to drink:

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Naughty no feathers on his legs wonders if he stands in the water, will his feathers grow?

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Sleepy chick:

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I didn't manage to get a shot of all five chicks though :roll:

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I think she's a bit shocked by motherhood :shock::lol: Whilst Tiger and the Brahmas are constantly on the go, scratching for bugs and looking for tasty things, MM prefers to spend most of her time sat down watching the world go by. She looks a bit peaky today so I've just made her a yummy dinner, just waiting for it to cool down. I think it's probably because she's been broody for so long, although she doesn't feel as if she's lost weight. She's certainly lost feathers because she's plucked bare her underside :shock:

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