[Missie]

I have a broody bantam and she is sitting on 6 fertile eggs,they are due to hatch around the 22nd of the month,However i am not too sure what to do when they appear,do i?take them out,put them in a makeshit tank inside the home with a heat light,or do i just let Mum do the job? Any advice would be appreciated!

[joyfull]

leave mum and babies alone, they can take a couple of days for them all to hatch, then mum will leave the nest and bring them out into the run to eat and drink. Whilst she is doing this I then clean the nest box and disguard any unhatched eggs. You have to do nothing except change their feed and water regularly (they will poop and fall asleep in their food). Oh and take loads of photos as they grow so every very quickly.

Make sure that you have chick crumb and a shallow dish for their food and for your water either a chick drinker or a shallow dish with marbles or stones in as they can drown.

[Missie]

Oh Thankyou Joyfull,i am very excited,she is sitting on 6 Barnevelder eggs hehe!i have already purchased a small 1.5 litre mushroom drinker and feeder,in the coop and run i have three other bantams and two silkie cockerels,should i move them out?

Thanks ever so much!

[joyfull]

My drinker is a little 0.6 litre mushroom one, this way it is so shallow.
Good luck with the hatch, my next lot are due on Sunday/Monday then that is me done for this year - well apart from the 4 sablepoot eggs in Grannie Annies incubator   

[Missie]

Hi ,just to confirm,should i take the other bantams and cockerels out once the chicks have hatched?i was told they could kill them by accident?

[joyfull]

Once they have hatched they need to go into a seperate broody coup so that the others can't trample on them and also mum will be a bit protective and get upset. Besides all the other birds will want to eat the chick crumb - they really like chick crumb but unless it is organic (or from the small holder range) it will have anti coccidiosis stuff in and if they eat that you can't eat their eggs. My broodies and their eggs went into their broody coups when she had just started sitting. You will need to keep them in their seperate run for a while as crows etc can kill them  .