In all our years raising fowl , we have used the “ natural ” method of brooding three metre . That trio of musing hen ( Altaria the White Silkie , Cutie the Dutch Bantam and Henrietta the Royal Palm ) proved to be steadfast broodies and splendid mothers .
Our farm , however , specializes in customs duty hatch . With clients thirstily expect their special - parliamentary law doll , we ca n’t adventure free-base our business sector onbroody hens . Instead , we use incubators . The remainder result is the same — a clump of downy peepers — although some of the wonder is indeed can when using hardware instead of hens .
This summer , however , I countenance sloppiness formula . Henrietta ’s girl , Alex , at old age 6 now an elder among the hen , had finally gone broody for the first time in her farseeing lifespan . One May sunup , she was practically race out of the henhouse to enjoy the spring weather .
The next day , she was firmly entrenched on a nest , hiss wildly at me when I swipe the nestbox lid to garner eggs . Ana Hotaling
The Lovely Lady
My first instinct was to pick her up off of her nest and convulse her into her run , my solution for any freshly pensive hen . Having recently lose one of our olderOrpingtongirls , I paused . Alex had lived a ripe many days , laying regularly and helping her flock loss leader , Thomas , keep the rest of the girls in line .
At 6 , she might not have that many years left . Why not have her experience maternity , especially given this was the first time she ever state biologic interest ?
Collecting the two eggs beneath her , I marked the day of the month with a pencil , count forwards three calendar week and also noted the expected hatching date . Avoiding Alex ’s tempestuous beak , I put the bollock back into her nest and hoped for the best .
Ana Hotaling
What follow were three weeks of henhouse antics so exasperating that I much pulled my hair out . Things went fine for the first eight days . I candled both eggs and growth was noted in each . I breathe a sigh of relief … but it was too soon . That good afternoon , my son Jaeson do in from collecting egg with a question .
“ Is n’t Alex speculate to be in the proper side nestbox ? ”
Yes , she was . Jaeson then inform me that Alex was in the core nestbox , angrily whoosh to herself . Uh oh .
I inscribe to the coop , lifted the palpebra and encountered a very agitated Alex on the mediate nest , while in the correct nestbox , Alex ’s friend Dolly blissfully hunkered down on Alex ’s eggs . Ugh ! I did n’t hesitate this time . I picked Dolly up and toss her back into the streamlet , telling her to keep away from poor Alex ’s egg .
Then I slipped the eggs back under Alex and closed the lid . Ana Hotaling
The Well-Intentioned Friend
For the next three days , Alex and Dolly played musical nests as Alex would step away from her nest to take attention of her needs , only to find Dolly ensconced on her next when she got back . No matter how many times I pitched Dolly off that nest , she ’d creep back in and get back down . I finally give up and resolve that Dolly could have her own eggs . After all , this was the first prison term that Dolly had shown sign of broodiness .
Dolly and Alex had grown up together and were the same age , so who fuck how much retentive Dolly had , too ?
I took two eggs from our Ameraucana coop and marked them with the mount and hatching dates , then invite Dolly to take a place . I figured that Dolly ’s profane testis would be leisurely to differentiate from Alex ’s brown ace , plus Dolly , being an Ameraucana herself , would do best with Ameraucana wench .
Ana Hotaling
A bonus : I could finally move Dolly into the Ameraucana coop ( previous attempts had failed , as she insist on living with Alex in the Orpington coop ) .
Those program lead out the windowpane as Dolly kept switching back to Alex ’s nest , leave a disgruntled Alex to seat on Dolly ’s forsake egg . For a while , I tried swapping the orchis back to their lawful broody hens .
In the close , I give up . Both broody hens would have biddy , after all . Right ?
Ana Hotaling
The Butt-inski Neighbor
Wrong . Hatching Day No . 1 come , and I made certain we left the sitter biddy alone to ensure tranquility for whichever young lady ended up on the testis duo due to hatch that Clarence Day . Imagine my surprisal when , later on that good afternoon , I lifted the nestbox lid to discover our Black Orpington , Fitz , on the nest , croon to a new hatched Lavender Orpington as if she ’d brooded the egg from day one . Dolly sat on her eggs , unfazed . Alex paced furiously back and forth inside the coop , refusing to even model in the leftside nestbox .
For the safety of Fitz and the new arrived chick ( the second eggs never hatched ) , I move them , nestpad and all , to one of our celestial pole - b brooders . There , Fitz successfully raise the fiddling peep , named Ginger Bean ( after my friend Fitz ’s girl , Ginger ) until I gently flux them into the New Orpington stack .
I was n’t about to put the Orpington mother and kid anywhere near Alex .
Ana Hotaling
As for Dolly , her two skirt hatched approximately 10 days after Ginger Bean . Dolly and her daughters were move to our celestial pole - b incubator and , when the chicks were fully feathered , the trio was successfully immix into our Ameraucana coop . Jefferson Ameraucana was quite puffed up with superbia that day at have three more girls for his chemical group . Ana Hotaling
The Rerun
Alex , unfortunately , got shafted by her fellow hens . I felt defective for the poor girl , because it was she I ’d planned to permit brood in the first place , not Dolly and unquestionably not Fitz . She had n’t miss her cause to brood , either : I discovered seven egg beneath her . suspire , I got out my pencil and marked them all once again , then left her with her clutch .
Nobody played musical nests with Alex this meter . I think the other hen in her hencoop were too afraid to even draw near her ; they all compliantly laid their egg in the other two nestboxes . Things finally seemed to be going well for steadfast old Alex .
The Crime Drama
Until , one by one , Alex ’s ball embark on to disappear . The boys and I were positively stumped . None of her flockmates went anywhere near that nest . Alex had n’t accidentally kicked the ballock out , either . There was utterly no way that an egg feeder such as a snake or squirrel could get into the coop . Well , other than the pop door , and they would n’t have live on with Thomas Orpington stand safeguard . Baffled , I candle the remaining three eggs , double - checked the hatch escort I ’d written on the shell and put them back under the broody hen . The next day , only two bollock remained — and this time , we had the perpetrator .
It was Alex herself . Somehow , as she shift herself around on her nest , she had managed to crush the egg with her body . I ’m still stick as to why there were no signs of the first four eggs . This fourth dimension , however , a half - develop dame laid squashed on the nest pad , amongst the shattered shell . The passel was gruesome ; the smell was bad . Even more frightful was that Alex refused to let me clean up her nest . As you could think , the two remaining eggs never had a fortune .
A few days later , Alex was out in the running play , gobble down blades of grass . I hurried out there , disposed of the entire stinking sight , put down fresh have a go at it and , in a moment of full insanity , put one fresh laid Ameraucana eggs on top . I have no idea what drive me to do this . The poor hen had bombed at brooding so far . I suppose I felt risky for her , but I also do n’t know why I only gave her one orchis . I suppose I did n’t desire to rush wasting any more eggs and losing any more chick . As for Alex , she render to her nest , showing no sign that her nestbox had been cleaned . She settle down down on the new eggs , and that was that . Ana Hotaling
Ana Hotaling
The Spin-Off
This past Monday , as I was groom to take Jaeson to school , I saw him running from the Orpington coop towards me , his hands cupped . “ It ’s die ! ” he cried out , thrusting his hand towards me . Inside them , he hold a fresh hatch Ameraucana chick , still wet and straggly from the egg … and completely ice cold . I hastily snap up the dame and held him beneath my chin to warm up him up .
“ Where ’s Alex ? ” I take in semi - panic , gently rubbing the little bird ’s back and stomach .
My son pointed out the room access . sure as shooting enough , Alex was in her tally , jubilantly eating kitchen refuse with the other hen . Still , this baby chick would n’t have develop so cold in a short amount of time . Once I warm him up , I turn over him back to Jaeson . “ Put him back in his nest . Alex will question where her baby go . ”
Jaeson obliged , waiting quiet by the chicken coop for Alex to go in . He waited , I look , and Alex simply romp in the run with her friend . ultimately I gestured to Jaeson . “ Bring him back . We ca n’t will him to freeze ! ” He begin back , chick in deal , when suddenly Alex pall back up the ramp and into the coop . “ PUT HIM BACK , QUICK ! ” I yelled , hoping that the poor kid would avoid Alex ’s very strong and possible very furious nozzle .
A few moments run by , with Jaeson at the nestbox , its lid candid in his hand . in the end , he call back to me . “ She ’s just bear here , eat at the self-feeder . What should I do ? ” I replied that he should let her rust . Surely she ’d turn back to her nest after she ’d eaten her fill . More waitress . And more . last , I could n’t treat it any more . “ Bring the baby back in , ” I shout out out to Jaeson . He returned , the once - again cool down dame in his hand .
The Soap Opera
The two of us took routine warming the poor baby up , while I think about our options . My top option was to bring him to Fitz . That scalawag of a biddy was once again in the pole - barn incubator , this time with seven baby doll , all hers this time .
She ’d abandoned short Ginger Bean after a calendar week and we ’d pay her up for dead when my husband , Jae , find her hidden under the rhubarb , a huge clutch beneath her . Once the babe Ameraucana was thoroughly warm , we brought him over to Fitz , hop that she would adopt him into her brood , even though they were perhaps a week sure-enough .
Nothing doing . Not only did Fitz not accept the infant , she shrieked loudly and withdraw her wench into a far corner , well off from it . On to Plan B : we got out one of our individual brooding tubs , filled it with unfermented shavings and placed a child - chick water boy and birdfeeder inside .
While I held the peeper , Jaeson went out and make one of our two eternally broody Silkie hen , Natalya . We hop that , reckon and hear the new cover baby , she ’d merrily coiffure with him and be a Mama Hen .
regrettably , Natalya was only interested in the food and weewee . She pooped on the fresh shavings and stepped on the poor babe . Annoyed , Jaeson grabbed her and scolded her all the way back to the Silkie tractor . He render with Natalya ’s babe , Valerya , but she had the same amount of interest in the biddy as her sibling . Back she went . Ana Hotaling
The Happy Ending?
In the terminal , we blend back to our roots . We dig out out what I long ago dub the “ chicken gallows , ” a wooden contraption built by Jae that supports a hanging heating plant lamp . Once the interior of the brooding bath was at 95 degrees F , we put the niggling doll in . Did it go to slumber , exhausted by its travails ? Nope . It peep continually until we put in a plush Easter bunny rabbit in for society . The skirt finally curled up between the bunny ’s legs and went to sleep .
The finally reckoning ? Dolly Ameraucana , a successful mom with two adorable daughters , all living happily in the Ameraucana coop . Fitz Orpington , a monkey of a mum who swooped one Orpington child , promptly abandoned the poor juvenile and is now produce seven more in our brooder . Alex Royal Palm , a terrible mother who seems to have fix over her biologic clock ticktack quite rapidly . My office ? Home to a singleton doll whose perpetual peeping is cause it to become the most spoiled , toted - around and cuddled dame in being . And me ? I ’m sticking with incubators for now on .
