Thursday, October 25, 2012

Incubation in progress

We want to increase the size of our small flock of chooks. Unfortunately none of our young hens have shown any signs of broodiness. I thought one was last year, as she spent an awful lot of time sitting on the nest, but after a week or so she got sick of sitting on the fertile eggs I placed under her and got up, desperate to get out of the broody box. Barnevelders are not a breed of poultry known for being good mothers. So I bought a small egg incubator and put the first lot of eggs in it last week. After reading the troubleshooting guide (which features a cover photo of two cute chicks toting guns - not women, I mean actual chicks of the fluffy yellow variety - weird) I'll be amazed if we get any live hatches given the extensive list of what can go wrong. But in the meantime I'll keep turning those eggs and checking temperature and humidity for the next two weeks and keep my fingers crossed.

3 comments:

  1. We have so many broody hens, if you want one to sit on a clutch let me know!

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  2. Funny, Michelle - always too much or too little! Will be interesting to see if/how the artificial method works...

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  3. Susan
    We have 2 chooks desperate to hatch eggs. Happy to pimp them out if it helps. They only work from home.
    Shane

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