We finally had our first hatch of 2010 last Monday. This was done the old fashioned way, stick a bunch of eggs under a hen and let her do the work. Sounds easy enough but with the fiasco of the broody hen who wasn't, I've learned that easy comes tough sometimes. This Partridge Chantecler hen was broody and did a great job, I put 10 eggs under her and she hatched out 10 chicks, all are thriving. We've never had a complete 100% hatch rate before. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever heard of it, books and websites generally say anything over 60% is good.
So I'm thinking back trying to figure out what was different in this hatch.
- It was a great time of year, with the exception of one, all of last years' were in the winter.
- Very little wait time for the eggs. Usually I gather eggs for a few days, this time I stuck three under her the first day and the remaining seven the next. No wait time.
- I did not muck about with the eggs half as much. They say you should be checking the eggs every couple of days, making sure there was no broken or cracked ones. ("They" don't seem to give the hen a whole lot of credit here.) I was very apprehensive of disturbing this hen, I did not want her to stop being broody, one broody fiasco a year is plenty. I gently picked her up a couple of times later in the incubation, to take a gander at the eggs but that was it.
I don't know if any of this made a difference but I think I will definitely keep up the habit of the occasional visual check of the eggs, unless a problem arises. And I will aim for less wait time when it comes to collecting the eggs.
Enough of the pondering! I'm just going to enjoy these sweet little puffballs and their antics. I love watching a hen in mom-mode, they are so gentle and mellow with their little ones.
Here's Mama teaching a few of her chicks how to scratch and pick out good things to eat.
4 comments:
well done :)
That little hen is doing a wonderful job! Thanks for commenting, Annette.
Great news. My friend is raising Chanteclers. What a hearty breed. I LOVE a mom with chicks. It's so fun to watch. I have had great hatch rates by candling the eggs at one week, and then letting her do her thing until the end. Candling lets you remove any eggs that aren't fertile so she can doesn't waste time tending to them, but it seems your rooster is doing his job, very well!
Hi Amy!
I'm glad you popped by.
I'm just getting the hang of candling. I can see how it would be very useful. I agree Chanteclers are very hardy and they're nice little mellow birds which was important for me as a newbie chicken raiser.
Post a Comment