Well, 21 days have come and gone. Several days ago. And we don’t have little chicks. When we candled the eggs, it looked like there were no longer any viable chicks. How sad. But our hen is still sitting patiently.
The backup plan? After reading a great post on getting a hen to adopt babies, we got her moved to an old squirrel cage that was in the basement from when my dad was a kid. And we moved her eggs. And we ordered 12 baby chicks. They should be here on Friday.
We were a little worried that she’d try and go back up to the nest box. But thankfully, she’s very content here.
Baldy has a small feeder and waterer in her new digs. |
I’ll let you know how our chick adoption process goes. The good news? We have a plan C if needed–just brood the babies ourselves. Hopefully we won’t need to go that route.
Any tips on getting a broody to adopt babies successfully?