Sunday, May 16, 2010

No Chicks This Time

Our first natural hatch didn't turn out well.  Days 21 and 22 came with no peeps or pips from inside the eggs.  We were down to 8 eggs from the original dozen on hatch day.  Lola had either eaten them or they had exploded and covered the remaining eggs in goo.  A few of the 8 that were left had developed to a certain point, but didn't make it for the duration.

I took Lola out of the brooding box this morning.  She was all wet underneath and the nest was yucky.  Once she got outside, she seemed happy to be relieved of her duties and went around the yard looking for bugs.  She came back later in the day and looked for her nest, but so far no signs of brooding again.  Hopefully she'll get back to laying eggs soon.

Since Lola started brooding a couple months ago, 3 more hens have decided they want to hatch eggs, too.  We're going to try again with another 10 eggs under a little silkie girl tonight.  We're going to move the brooding box inside the barn to be able to keep it completely dry.

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