Celia Hart's blog about what's going on in and around her studio.
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Tuesday, 7 June 2011

PPPHatch – Day 21

Three weeks ago Terry helped me to put 9 eggs under my neighbour's Black Cochin broody hen . . . 8 eggs remain (one broke and was unfertile) . . . what will happen in the next 48 hours?



Time will tell . . . success isn't guaranteed.

I've got my fingers crossed . . . and my toes . . .


Celia
x


LATEST . . .

16.50 Tues 7 June: The hen is clucking encouragements to the chicks inside the eggs – we can hear tiny scraping sounds of chick beaks on shell (she allowed us to very gently check 2 eggs).

20.20 Tues 7 June: No chicks yet... the hen has settled down for the night. We'll just have to wait until morning.

7.00 Wed 8 June: Still no chicks yet... checking again at 11.00... we don't want to disturb her too often. Not giving up hope yet – later today or tomorrow was my original guess for hatching.

11.15 Wed 8 June: No change... we're still waiting... 8 warm eggs under those cosy black fluffy feathers.

15.30 Wed 8 June: No change... we're still waiting... but we haven't given up.

08.30 Thurs 9 June: ditto... but all is not lost yet. I checked with the dates from a friend who had eggs from my flock to hatch, they were due on a Tuesday and actually hatched on the following Friday.

Sunday 12 June: Sadly none of the eggs hatched - which was very disappointing, but these things happen.

BUT – there are rumours that PPPHatch II is scheduled, so keep an eye on the blog over the next few weeks – you'll be the first to know ;-)
Posted by Celia Hart on Tuesday, June 07, 2011
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17 comments:

  1. Anonymous7 June 2011 at 10:01

    All crossed here, too. I'm sure I'm almost as excited as you are!

    Lovely WV today - flautio

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  2. Simone7 June 2011 at 10:10

    How wonderful! I will cross my fingers and toes for successful hatchings too!!!

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  3. dinahmow7 June 2011 at 10:38

    Oh! I remember when I first allowed Bossy-the-Bantam to sit on eggs. The sweetie successfully hatched and raised
    8 from 8. (And the eggs were large, not Bantam-size!)
    Here's hoping, Celia.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Karen7 June 2011 at 10:51

    Aw exciting! It's so lovely to see new born chicks. Fingers crossed for you. :)

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  5. Su7 June 2011 at 11:30

    Everything crossed here too!

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  6. Terry Golson7 June 2011 at 12:07

    Seems like just last week that I was there! Here's hoping that all goes well. Just don't let the hatch go to Tarragon's head.

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  7. petoskystone7 June 2011 at 13:27

    have faith in the warmth of the fluffy black feathers! ;) such excitement :)

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  8. Chrissie7 June 2011 at 13:38

    It would be so exciting to see some fluffy chicks - certainly got fingers crossed!

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  9. Kath7 June 2011 at 14:58

    Everything crossed here (except eyes!) She'll be a good mum I suspect. Let's hope they hatch.

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  10. Anonymous7 June 2011 at 21:23

    I can picture you pacing up and down nervously....Hope all is revealed soon.

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  11. mycuriousteaparty8 June 2011 at 07:47

    Have you got your babies yet?... So exciting, never thought I could be over a chick, but your enthusiasm is catching..

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  12. Carrie8 June 2011 at 14:44

    oh this is unbareable - I am not patient when it comes to things like this. Everything crossed xx

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  13. Wendy8 June 2011 at 19:09

    Ooh how exciting - Babbs's are now four weeks old almost, and Gladys's lot hatch on Friday evening. It's generally bang on 21 days, to the hour sometimes, but in some years everybody suffers a late hatch. My record is 26 days! I find it's best to go out on hatch day to prevent pestering the hen. Remember to gently remove any half shells you see in case another pipping egg gets stuck in it. Good luck!

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  14. Ocean Breezes and Country Sneezes8 June 2011 at 23:09

    I can't wait to see those cute little babies!

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  15. Jason Dingley9 June 2011 at 04:01

    I am new to the world of chickens, about 9 months. And no I am not a chicken myself. Do all chickens at some stage go broody? And what do you do about it if you don't want more chicks?

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  16. Celia Hart9 June 2011 at 08:55

    As you can see - nature has her own timetable and the outcome is never guarnateed. It's a good life lesson.

    We'll see what happens today and tomorrow before we give up hope of chicks this time.

    Thank you for following progress and thank you for the excellent tips Wendy.

    Jason - welcome to PPPs, in answer to your questions:
    Not all hens will want to go broody, most hybrids don't (that's why I'm borrowing a hen to do the task). Some pure breeds spend most of the summer 'being broody', Silkies, Cochins and Pekins (bantam sized Cochins) are notorious for this!
    If you don't want them to sit and try to hatch chicks, you need to try the break them out of broodiness. I recommend that you read tips about this from
    Terry: http://tinyurl.com/6zjbozu
    and Fiona: http://tinyurl.com/66oll3d


    Celia
    x

    ReplyDelete
  17. Wendy9 June 2011 at 10:17

    Do you have a candling torch? Let me know if you'd like to borrow mine and I'll post it up to you. They're very useful if you have a late hatch as you can sneak the eggs out at night, check them quickly and throw away any bad ones.

    ReplyDelete

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