Broody Bantam

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henkeeper

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Broody Bantam
« on: May 29, 2012, 10:02 »
I have a quartet of Dutch Bantams - one has been sitting now for 3 weeks but she has stolen all the other hen's eggs so some of the eggs she is sitting on are only a day or two old.  I have moved her to a broody pen and she is still sitting well - my question is this - can she rear chicks with different hatch dates, or does she stop sitting and I have to discard the ones that have gone cold?  Is it best to wait a couple of days after the first chick (hopefully) hatches and then discard.  All advice gratefully received have not raised chicks before.

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Casey76

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Re: Broody Bantam
« Reply #1 on: May 29, 2012, 10:29 »
A hen will normally collect eggs up to about 12 days; however if she is a novice broody, she may have been sitting too tight on the older eggs, in which case you will have a staggered hatch, which is not good for broodies.

Is there a particular reason why you are letting her sit?  Have you thought about what you will do with all of the males which will hatch (approximately 50-60% of chicks will be male)?

If she has been sitting for three weeks, she will be getting very weak; Dutch bantams are so tiny to start with, they do not have the same muscle mass to use up in comparison to larger birds.

Did you mark the eggs which she first started sitting on?  How many is she sitting on now?  As eggs under a broody might take up to 25 days to hatch (although tiny bantams can start hatching at day 19), you could wait for nature to take its course.  Ensure that there are chick crumbs and a chick drinker in the sitting area of the coop, so that mum hsn't got to move to eat and drink.

She shouldn't be disturbed for the last three days of sitting.

Once she brins the chicks outside, you can discard any remaining eggs.

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henkeeper

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Re: Broody Bantam
« Reply #2 on: May 30, 2012, 12:26 »
Thanks for the advice - I let her sit so I can get some more bantams, I have looked at various websites and they say Dutch are good sitters so I hope she hasn't sat too tight. She has food and water and I have seen her leave the nest to eat and drink, she is strong and alert so I am not worried about her.

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henkeeper

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Re: Broody Bantam
« Reply #3 on: May 31, 2012, 16:58 »
well I moved the water from the run area to the sitting area and she has spilt it all and the eggs feel cool - do you always see the chicks moving when you candle the eggs?



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