Mrs

[flutterby]

Mother and twins are doing well hey hatched on 2 Sept.

 

The problem now is that broody is still sitting tight on other 4 eggs and starting to soil the nest area.

 

I candled them last night(day 21) and to my eye they look infertile.

 

When do I remove them?

 

How do I stop her soiling the nest?

Thanks

[Griffin]

I've had eggs hatch on day 24 under a broody. She'll leave them when she thinks they're not worth sitting on. I'd turf her out twice a day though to encourage her to toilet elsewhere. Good luck!

[flutterby]

Thanks Griffin, I've been turfing her off everyday! It's only since chicks started cheeping (beofre hatching) that she deciced to sit even tighter!

 

I forgot to say that they are bantam egg, does that make much of a differnce?

[flutterby]

Day 23

 

candled eggs again - one had gone clear another had a dark patch but only very small so I decided to remove those two.

The other two eggs have quite large dark areas but look suspect but have left them for tonight as I didn't want to upset the broody too much.

My main concern is that if I remove the eggs too soon she will abandon the chicks.

 

The chicks are delightful chirping away and bouncing all over the place

 

back to the broody - she is still soiling the nest despite being lifted off the remaining eggs a couple of times a day, and is very determined to sit. Should I just remove the last two eggs tomorrow if they haven't hatched? The twins will be 4 days old then.

[Egluntyne]

I would remove them now, so that she can concentrate her energies on the two chicks.

[flutterby]

Thanx Eglutine,

 

Ive now removed all unhatched eggs - she wasn't happy and went back to the nest looking for them and continued to sit tight!

 

I gave my daughter instructions to check on the little family through out the day - unfortunately broody decided to soil yet again so DD had the smelly task! She did however still look after the twins.

 

They're already starting to grow some feather looking prongs on their wings!!

[flutterby]

Finally the broody has decided to get up!

 

She is happily looking after Cheepy and Chirpy!