June 23, 2016

Good morning,

It was a little over 28 days ago that a lady gave us six fertile duck eggs to put under a broody hen. Duck eggs are pretty big eggs. We had a couple different bantam’s that had gone broody. One was sitting on several eggs that it had requisitioned from several different hens, and another one that was trying to hatch air.

Well thinking that the hen on eggs would be the best candidate for the ducks we put her on the eggs. Funny how she was on the eggs overnight and then “got over it”. Like “this is more than what I want to commit to”. So we put the “air” broody on the eggs, maybe not as dramatic as some one playing “air guitar” but much more productive.

It never ceases to amaze me how a hen can just flatten out and really cover some square footage with their feathers. The egg coverage was not a problem but man was she flat!!

One of the things that just amazes me is the length of incubation. If all the eggs are laid before incubation starts, even though they were laid over the course of a week or two, they will hatch the same day. This is an exact time and depends on the the species of fowl. Chickens are 21 days, ducks are 28 and geese are 31. This is not a more or less number. This IS the number. You could set your clock to it and most likely be more accurate than an atomic clock. Sooo exactly on 28 days : I always get surprised by babies but it was not a surprise to see four little fuzz balls attached to a chicken. By the end of the day the two unhatched eggs were kicked out of the nest.

This really makes very good sense on a survival level. It is good that not all of the wild things have been bred out of domesticated fowl.

In a wild situation it would not behoove a hen to still be sitting on unhatched eggs while the rest of the brood is hatched and ready to go. All fowl hatch and are fully developed to start being eating machines and they are. It would be hard for mom to protect these foraging babies while she is still confined to the nest.

Before the hen goes broody, she will lay her egg and then immediately get off the nest. This usually takes a week or two. (this is why fresh eggs do not need do be refrigerated) I have noticed as the “broodyness” of a duck hen increases, she begins to cover the nest with sticks, grass, her feathers.... If you do not KNOW where the nest is you will not be able to find it. It is camouflaged. I suspect this does a couple things: protect the eggs from predators and to keep the eggs cooler.

Sooo once the clutch gets to size and her broody hormones go into over drive, she begins to sit. Very seldom will she leave except to feed and evacuate the stored up poo well away from her brood. It is when she starts to go broody that the clock begins to click and in exactly 28 days there are little fuzz balls.

How perplexed was the chicken mama to see all of her babies bobbing on water. This will be interesting. Some how I am sure there will be some traits the babies pick up from mom but I am sure scratching like a chicken will not be one of them. Would be hilarious though!! web feet and all.

Babies are always such fun!!

One last note: it is with domesticated chickens and communal nest boxes that uneven aged eggs can occur. Just because a hen has gone broody this will not stop the continued addition of eggs to the communal broody hens clutch. This and other reasons are why it is important to relocate the hen and her eggs to a isolated nest box. It would also be wise to replace the eggs she is sitting on so that all the eggs are on the same time frame. Because of domestication some hens will continue to sit on the unhatched eggs. This can cause some very unpleasant things to happen. So with out going into details IT is a good idea to have even aged eggs under a sitting hen.

I anticipate harvesting chard, kale, carrots, beans, okra, cucumbers, summer squash, chilies, eggplant, and tomatoes.