Unsecure chicken perches

[Nicola O]

After last years success of hatching and raising the boys for the table, I have decided to have another go as Gladys has just gone broody.

 

Gladys is the only girl chick that came from that hatching, and as all the boys except one went to the butcher (Boris managed to weadle his way into my heart so stayed) I am going to try and see if he is a 'real man' and set some of Bertha's eggs under Gladys. Bertha is my big Orp. and lays large eggs so I'm hoping this will give me bigger meat birds. Will move Gladys to the broody house tonight and set the eggs, hope the move doesn't unsettle her

 

Will let you know how she gets on, Nicola.

[Nicola O]

Well, she wasn't at all happy about being moved last night - there was lots of shouting and screaming for a bit - but she soon settled down on the eggs. This morning I opened the house at 8am and had a nosey, and she was sat happily and have just gone out to check again and she has brought herself out, eaten the mealworms, pooed, and is back on the eggs again . What a good girl.

 

Nicola

[Nicola O]

Oh dear, after sitting for only 24 hours, Gladys has had a disaster.

 

When I checked on her last night she had managed to crush one egg completely, and one had fallen out of the nest onto the floor of the house. She then decided to sit on that one and left the other four in the nest to go cold . There isn't a lot of head room in the nest box so I wonder if she has accidentaly done this whilst moving about. I have moved all the eggs into the corner on the floor of the house, and added another Bertha egg - I'm hoping that as she had only been sitting for 24 hours that this will be OK and that the ones that got cold shouldn't be too affected.

[Redwing]

As long as she sits toght from now on things should be fine

 

Eggs take a full 24 hours of warmth before any development beins to happen

[Nicola O]

Thanks for that Redwing, that was what I was hoping.

 

She is very settled now she is on the floor of the house, so now she should be OK. Gladys is a tallish girl and I think she was too cramped in the nestbox.

 

Nicola

[Nicola O]

She's done it again, and crushed another egg - another Bertha egg.

 

I hope she doesn't turn out to be a heavy-footed oaf who manages to crush all her potential babies before they hatch

 

Nicola

[surfer_chicken]

Sorry to hear that. I suppose it's a bit risky if it's her first hatch

I hope the rest go okay x

[Nicola O]

Oh dear, I'm back again with the same news - another egg smashed today, making three in total she's destroyed and leaving her with only four eggs now. She may make a good Mum (if she ever gets that far) but she def. is NOT a good broody.

 

Everyone she has destroyed has been a Bertha egg (the ones I really wanted) and I am in two minds about letting her continue, but as I was planning to candle them at the weekend I'll see what they look like and decide then. I have heard that a broody can tell an unfertile egg and get rid of it, but can they tell this early on ?? or is she just a heavy-footed oaf who keeps stomping on her eggs. Perhaps Boris is a 'Jaffa' and Gladys knows it .

 

Nicola

[sjp]

are they thin shelled eggs at all that could have broke as she moved them?

[Nicola O]

Gladys has decided that she's had enough and has abandoned her eggs. Over the last few days she kept getting off the eggs and has been in and out of the house like a yo-yo, and having watched her since I've got in from work she was permanently in the run and the eggs were stone cold .

 

I have put her back with the other girls and she is not at all bothered about leaving the eggs. It's a shame as candleing showed they were developing - perhaps Gladys was too young (she's not quite a year), or she just is not a good broody. I know this sounds daft, but at the moment I've put the eggs in the airing cupboard as I can't bring myself to bin them, though I know they will have to go.

 

It's a shame that I can't encourage Lily to go broody as I could try popping them under her as she did such a brilliant job last year.

 

Nicola

[laurmurf]

as hard as it is, it would have been worse if she got off them even further along or stamped on the chicks after hatching.

 

I've had experience of one very poor orpington mum who just about barely raised her chicks and I've got another bad 'un at the moment who is doing a poor job of raising her hatched chicks and it's heart breaking!

[Nicola O]

Now I feel terrible !! Just before going to bed I decided to throw the eggs, and then thought 'crack them first' to see if they were fertile - to know that Boris is up to the job .

 

Bertha's two eggs were not fertile, but Lily and Henrietta (ex-bat) eggs were. Henrietta's embryonic chick was so tiny, half the size of Lily's and was clearly dead but Lily's was still alive and now I've killed it. Feel awful, but it was too late once the egg was cracked and I suppose realistically I couldn't have hatched a chick in the airing cupboard.

 

Any idea why these two were fertile but not Bertha's?? Lily and the ex-bats are his faveourites (as they are the most co-operative) but he does mate with Bertha. Could it be her size, as being an Orp. she is larger than him.

 

as hard as it is, it would have been worse if she got off them even further along or stamped on the chicks after hatching.

I know your right, Laurie, as she has already smashed three eggs already. I was so excited two weeks ago when Gladys went broody but this time it has been a complete failure, mark it down to experience I suppose and don't try Gladys again. I need Lily to go broody again as she was brilliant last year.

 

Nicola

[Daphne]

Well remember both parents need to be fertile, not just the boys! However, I expect its because Bertha has a very fluffy behind so he is having more trouble mating with her - you could try trimming the fluff around the vent to help. Cockerals do seem to know which are the 'best' hens - its a good tip when buying year old or so hens to choose those which been well trodden, even though they look a bit moth eaten they are usually productive and fertile

[scubababe]

What a shame. I hope you manage to get some chicks