Unsecure chicken perches

[speckled hen]

Hello everyone

My very clever orpington is still sat on 9 eggs, I think we are around day 19/20 so really ought to get prepared Didn't think we would get this far! I have bought chick crumb, feeder and water trough for chicks. Mummy is sat on straw in a rabbit hutch

, do I need to change the bedding? When they hatch, what happens then????

Help I am seriously unprepared but very excited

Thank you

[Mollie333]

All very exciting!

 

Don't bother her from now on, don't lift her off the nest, just put the chick feeder and water trough down next to her, and she will eat and drink from it. She will teach them pretty much everything, a benefit of having a broody hen!

[atsw]

The important point to be careful about is the newly hatched chicks drowning (of all things!). New chicks have a magnetic attraction to water and will fall into an open dish. I put marbles in my dishes for the first few days to prevent drowning. As Mollie said, Mother Hen will look after everything else, you just sit back and marvel at the whole process, it's quite fantastic to watch (my pekins hatched at the weekend, there's a short picture slide-show on-line by clicking here).

 

Andrew

[JillM]

Just a thought ..... Presumably the mum will be eating chick crumb too while she is raising the chicks, or would different food need providing for her?

[sjp]

she'll eat the chick crumb as well the extra protin wil help to get her back in to shape after 3 weeks of sitting doing nothing

[JillM]

That's great, thanks. Presumably she will stay on that until the chicks move onto growers pellets, then she goes back to layers pellets, or does she continue to eat with the chicks?

[speckled hen]

Thanks everyone, I will leave her be and just wait I thought we would have seen something by now but am a bit unsure when day one was, I guess we will get some when they are good and ready.

 

Will keep you posted

[atsw]

That's great, thanks. Presumably she will stay on that until the chicks move onto growers pellets, then she goes back to layers pellets, or does she continue to eat with the chicks?

Mum will eat what the chicks eat. As they progress onto growers pellet, so will she, and then eventually onto layer pellets as normal.

 

Andrew

[JillM]

Isn't the waiting the worst part, Speckled Hen? Good luck with the hatching..can you hear any cheeping yet?

 

Andrew, thank you for the advice. This is the kind of stuff books seem to assume you know!

[atsw]

Isn't the waiting the worst part, Speckled Hen? Good luck with the hatching..can you hear any cheeping yet?

 

Andrew, thank you for the advice. This is the kind of stuff books seem to assume you know!

To wet your appetite for what's ahead, I made a little slidshow of all the picture I took during my 2009 hatch of 8 Pekins, which is still available to view on-line by clicking here .

 

Good luck to both of you!

 

Andrew

[JillM]

Thanks Andrew, that was very helpful to see the stages they go though. They do seem to have more feathers than they know what to do with sometimes, don't they! And your frizzle is delightful.

[speckled hen]

They are great pics Andrew, thank you. Im starting to think nothing is going to hatch from our eggs. No sign of chicks, had a rotten egg today so not sure what is happening

[Mollie333]

Anything happened? Maybe you'll have chicks tomorrow morning! Don't bin any yet - hold up until day 23. Fingers crossed!