The young chickens are doing very well, venturing further away from their coop every day, mamma hen always right in the middle of them … head up high and “on a swivel” looking for threats. Cute. Fun to watch.
Set about 21 eggs in the incubator, timed to hatch about a day or so after my niece McKenna (future animal scientist) arrives from CA. This will be McKenna’s sub-flock … special birds indeed.
Decided to intervene on the 5/4 broody hens (5 hens, 4 nest boxes, go figure!) and, sure enough, none of the nests were viable. They were complete messes, rotten eggs, disgusting.
The hens had the best of intentions, but their execution must have been flawed. With the predominant weather conditions here/now (hot + humid), I can only surmise the eggs were too hot, or too humid, thus preventing their hatching. Also, those nest