Dawn is in the coop with 11 right now.
One of the original 12 died overnight - and we think one more looks a little weak. It's one that Christian helped out of its shell, so it wasn't too likely to make it on its own anyway. But we'll see.
Mickie is back on the nest with 12 eggs. This after we initially cleared the nest to try -- unsuccessfully -- to move all moms, babies and remaining eggs to the coop. Mickie wouldn't go and Dawn wouldn't sit on the moved eggs. So we left the babies with Dawn and moved the unbroken eggs back to Mic.
We think there were two clutches of eggs at different stages of development. That the mamas started to brood at different times and that some aren't "cooked" yet.
At least that's the thought this morning. From two farmers who know very little about birds and who have been too lazy or busy to look up the odds of that happening.
I didn't get around to taking photos until the light was really difficult last night, so here's a kind of cruddy one. I'll try to get more soon and will post an update if the rest of the eggs start to hatch. Again - they are cute but totally not needed at BHF. They can be yours if the price is right.
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Edited at 9:33 -- OK- it's hard to count squirmy peep peeps. Looks like we have 12 now, not 11. So I guess that means we started with 13. No movement on the rest of the eggs yet. Oh! And Audrey, the other pied guineas, has started to brood a nest of 20-30 eggs. Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!
4 comments:
Not sure how Bellaire feels about raising chickens in your backyard, but I for one would love to give it a try!
Oh - you don't want guineas. They are LOUD and don't stay put. They'l sit on your neighbors' rooves and squawk.
...But you could raise a couple until they got talky and then eat 'em. Five dollahs a keet. :)
I have been thinking about letting one of the chickens have a try at sitting on eggs and so we have one that has about 20 eggs with between 8-10 more days to go. Any advice? I'm getting the sense now that I should be prepared for death. I'm used to that with the chicks..... so we'll see what happens in 10 days.
We *try* to let nature take its course for the most part. I would try to see how it goes but be prepared to bring chicks inside if she isn't a good mom. Y'all keep them in a coop or eggmobile anyway, right? We like to give the babies a week in the coop to get proficient at moving about before the free range begins.
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