A Broody Swedish Flower Hen

Fact: 20% of Swedish Flower Hens go broody.  Not a high number really considering 50% of my Silver Gray Dorking Hens went broody at under a year.  (3 out of 6)  My first group of 8 hens(SFH) are well over a year old and no broody among them. Out of 18 (SFH) hens this is the first to go broody.  I was trilled to realize that one of the Swedish Flower Hens was indeed broody and at 6 months old.   Hatched on March 9, 2017, she had only started laying the beginning of August.  I have not even placed a rooster in that pen of hens yet.  Her efforts are in vain. There is no way she has fertile eggs.

If you have read any of my September posts, I was having a rough time loosing my horse McCoy, struggling with my own health challenges while attempting to keep up caring for the animals.   “There is nothing new under the sun.”  The truth of Ecclesiastes 1:9 has been a source of comfort to me, knowing others have indeed experienced these trials and lived to see another day.  I chose to see an opportunity for growth.

Catching up on pen cleaning and farm maintenance needed to come first, in my opinion, before giving thought to hatching eggs.  Happy when I received an order for Silver Gray Dorking chicks,  I decided to use the IncuView Incubator.

 

Thursday(yesterday) proved to be a beautiful October fall day.  I did not move quickly for that is not in the best interest of my health, but rather I slowed down, accomplishing needed tasks in a relaxed fashion.  For one who once sported the nickname “energizer bunny” slowing down is an accomplishment in itself.  That, readers, is my sense of humor showing, for the simple truth, presently, I am not physically capable of working as I have in the past.

Feeling confident that I can, once again, care for the animals to meet my standards,  (Clean! Clean! Clean!)  I decided to attempt to give the broody hen eggs to hatch.  After consideration of different options, I brought in a 100 gallon tank and set her up in there.  Bedding and Swedish Flower Hen eggs from a different pen went in first.  I removed her from the eggs she was sitting on, totally changing her environment.  It was a bit of an experiment for me.  I felt hopeful but not sure what to expect.  I chased away the believe that I required a perfect outcome of my choice. It was going to be okay if this didn’t work.  I would learn from this.  I was going to get feed back from my results.

She was drawn to the eggs but was anxious about her new house.  She became occupied with pecking at the hardware cloth top.  I added feed and water after seeing her sit on the eggs.  Oh, but then when I came back she was off them.  I lifted the lid, a quick intent look from her and suddenly she flew out.  I caught her after what felt like several minutes, but did not take me that long at all.  Well, “I will give you 24 hours”, I decided silently.  I told myself I was going to stay away from her to give her time to settle.  NO peeking at her for one hour and I looked at my watch.  In my excitement, I had not realized she was receiving constant checks, like every few minute checks. Silly of me really, but I so badly wanted this to work.

I reduced my checks to periodically throughout the evening.  Before going in for the night she was indeed setting on the eggs.  This morning found her still flattened like a pancake covering all 11 eggs.  Excitement!!

Both, the eggs in incubator and the broody hen should be hatching near the date of October 26th, fulfilling the 21 day incubation period.  Did you know the exact temperature will shorten or lengthen the time it takes for chicks to develop?  Stay connected on social media for up to date reports on the hatches.

 

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