Wednesday 17th May 2017
Broody catch-up!!!
We love having broody poultry raising youngsters for us: our current chicks (24 being raised by four birds) are all doing great and even with occasional forays into the big wide world, so far so good on the ‘missing in action’ front. The work required to look after them is so much less than if we had hatched chicks in an incubator and then had to keep them in broody boxes with heat lamps for four or so weeks.
Having said that, the effort involved in looking after the broody bird BEFORE the eggs hatch ‘can’ be hard work. We currently still have ten broody birds: one duck, three turkeys and six chickens sitting on a total of 87 eggs!!!! The 'hard work' can come about in having to ensure that each broody sticks to its own chosen nest and/or is not ousted by another bird (either broody or a laying bird). It is also important to make sure that no eggs get broken because if they do, their contents can stick to the other eggs and cause infection to get in, so killing the unborn chick.
Broody birds need peace and quiet but for some reason (!!), broodies don't always choose the most sensible places to go broody. The worst place is often where they and other birds lay as then all the issues we have so far described are most likely to occur: nest swapping, broken eggs etc. Our errant hedgerow hen got it right really...
Katherine and Napoleona, pictured, have indulged in some nest sharing with Napoleona continuing to lay for a while in amongst the eggs that Victoria has been sat on for a good week or so. We think they are now sorted, each sat on their own pile with due dates of 4th and 14th respectively!! We are keeping an eye on our hatch rates: so far from egg to chick we are running at 73% - not bad!! If we look at how many were fertile and then hatched as opposed to just how many eggs there were, this percentage rises to 77%.
Next hatching is due on Friday: the Exchequer, Marans and Indian Games – the fertility rate here has not been great and from a total of 22 we know we only have 12 fertile eggs. And whether they will all hatch remains to be seen!!
Broody birds need peace and quiet but for some reason (!!), broodies don't always choose the most sensible places to go broody. The worst place is often where they and other birds lay as then all the issues we have so far described are most likely to occur: nest swapping, broken eggs etc. Our errant hedgerow hen got it right really...
Katherine and Napoleona, pictured, have indulged in some nest sharing with Napoleona continuing to lay for a while in amongst the eggs that Victoria has been sat on for a good week or so. We think they are now sorted, each sat on their own pile with due dates of 4th and 14th respectively!! We are keeping an eye on our hatch rates: so far from egg to chick we are running at 73% - not bad!! If we look at how many were fertile and then hatched as opposed to just how many eggs there were, this percentage rises to 77%.
Next hatching is due on Friday: the Exchequer, Marans and Indian Games – the fertility rate here has not been great and from a total of 22 we know we only have 12 fertile eggs. And whether they will all hatch remains to be seen!!