Mama Blacktail has a new brood!

About 29 days ago I noticed how broody mama was getting. So I cleaned out the nesting/broody box and lined it with new fresh hay grass. Then robbed mama barred Rock,one of her eggys and place it in the broody box. Sure enough that afternoon Mama Blacktail added one of her own. I knew that she usually lays one egg every other day for 8 days , so at the most only 4 eggs from her per setting. So I really wanted some more Barred Rocks and Mama BR lays everyday, so for the next few days I would switch a Blacktail Japanese egg for a BR egg. The last day I decided to put in a couple of Pickle's eggs( the Mille Fluer BB) too. Now she would have at least 3 BR's and Two Mille's, and OOOOPs , another Japanese decided to add to the nest ! So the last time I saw the group of eggys there were about 9 in all! So we waited!

As you all know the temps this last month were horrible! I was worried that the eggs were going to cook under Mama! Then I noticed how she got off the nest everyday during the hottest part of the day. Whenever the Temps got ove 100 , she would just take longer to return to the nest! She knew that the eggs could survive if she stayed on them! then the funniest thing happened one day during a high temperature and a low humidity, I actually saw her go over to the waterer and dip her wings into the water and wet herself before going back to the nest!

I kept checking the eggs everytime I could , but never touched them. So when the 20th day passed I took a chance and pulled the box out of the coop where she had been setting and I heard a loud cheeeeep Cheep cheep! So I got the big broody cage ready and placed the whole brood box inside it and waited ! Not patiently , for sure, but I was good , I waited! Nothing!....... so I went to bed and the next morning ..... Voila! there it was! A tiny little black eye peeping out between Mama's wings!

This message was edited Sep 4, 2007 8:53 AM

As you can see he has to be from the first Barred Rock egg I put in! Now the next should be another BR. After that.... Oh well we will see! I am on Pins and needles to see who made it through all that heat !
I'm so proud of Mama Blacktail! Im going to hate going to work today! I want be able to concentrate at all!
Later guys ! I'll have more pics this afternoon!

This message was edited Sep 4, 2007 8:54 AM

I'm so jealous! lol I can't wait to be able to experience having my ducks hatch babies!
Keep us updated!! :)

That's awesome Eufaula!!! Good for you and mama!!! Keep the pictures coming, ok??

I can't wait to find out what kind of babies you have...... :-D

Glenda

Well, so far its still only the one! But its quite healthy! I flushed Mama off the nest and had a look see ! She was not at all happy but that little fella really enjoyed the run!

This message was edited Sep 5, 2007 8:23 AM

there were actually 11 eggs! I broke one and found it unfertile! Then chipped the end off the other Barred Rock egg! He's alive and hanging in there could be tomorrow before he hatches though! I do not believe the other tiny Bantam eggys will hatch! They seemed to too heavy , like the yolk is still there! I Figure if the egg feels light and airy the Chick has absorbed the yolk and is ready to hatch!

Some how or another , Mama had accidentally pushed one of her own eggs inside the shell that the first little fella came out of! I had to peel away the old BR egg shell so the tiny bantam egg could breathe!

I also found out this particular Papa isnt going to be a good parent! He just didnt know how to be gentle with the newcomer! He kept pulling the little Ones toes ! So as you can see from the blurred photo, that instead of a family picture I had to hurriedly set the camera down and put the Mama and Baby back into the brooder with the safety top! No direct contact for old Papa!

How neat!! Keep us posted on your little guy. I LOVE seeing the pictures! Thanks Eufaula for sharing with us!! .....Next best thing to being there!! :)

This is wonderful, Eufala. I hope the rest will hatch for you. We'll be checking for more progress reports and baby pictures.

Well so far this little baby is it! There was another Barred Rock that was hatching but Mama was so harried with worry about the active first Hatched that she stepped on the newbie coming out of the shell and broke the still attached yolk sac . I rescued it but it didnt live too long after that!

I took the other two BR eggs out and put them into the tiny incu . I chipped the broad end off and saw that they are very active and will probably hatch by tomorrow.

Mama still has three of her own eggs and two Mille fluer. As you can see she is still trying to set but is not really staying on them as long as she would like. She has to get up and show Jr. how to eat and drink and all the big kid stuff. So if the little ones arent hatched by tomorrow I will remove them.

Great pics !!!

Bummer about the lil guy gettin stepped on.... so much that can go wrong during hatching.

Keepin my fingers crossed on the lil incubator.... I hatched quail eggs in one of those as a kid...lol

~Julie

Well , I did a recount on the days! I started mama laying in her nesting box 34 days ago by putting in a BR egg. Whooeeeee, That means she started incubating it right away ! She didnt even wait until all her own eggys were laid before setting! Thats why we have such an early hatched youngster! By all rights the others really shouldnt be hatching until this weekend, so we are going to have to wait a little longer!

Now that I know how she is, I wont be marking her nest again, I will just let her do it in her own time! I can see now she is very protective of each egg in her nest and it doesnt matter how or when it got there! It just matters that it has to be kept warm and humid!

Oh and here it is now 3:00AM , on Friday and the incu babies are still very active in shell! I hope WHHHHHHOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! I just heard the first Peep on the Incu , just now Mark that 3:02 AM !!!! Wow that was so sweet! Cant wait until I get home today from work at 12:30 to see whose out of the eggy!

Later Guys! ( OoOOoOooooooh I am soooooo excited!)

Keep us posted when you can!!!
We're eggcited for you too!! hehe ;)

Glenda

Waiting for an update! I'm egg-cited too. LOL

ooooooooh it was a Looooooooong night! I came home from work to find this little fella Cheeeeeeping away! I wanted to help him so badly! I was a good watchful "Mama" and didnt though! I let him struggle and struggle to get himself out. By the time I went to bed( unwillingly) he still hadnt broken the inner skin of the egg but I could see his eggy tooth trying and he was chirrrrpping and peeping, oh the effort he was putting in was enough to make you cry!
I got up to find him out of the egg and almost dry! He was exhausted a bit! When I opened the little cover he actually stood up and looked at me ! Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

Now this little Fella is what I call an Experimental model! His Birth Mom is a Splash Auracana, (with ear puffs) She is all white with black Splashes! The Papa is good old Cockle LooLoo My Barred Rock! Now isnt this going to be a winner?????? Hah , We Will see! Splash is a White Egger and CockleLooLoo is a brown egger!

As much as i didnt want to do it, I knew I had to give up the new baby ! I ran outside while still dark and interupted Mama Japaneses sleep and put the new baby under her!
Big Baby wasnt happy at all with the new comer but settled down!

Mama was, Needless to say , a bit surprised , but she started grooming the new baby on its head and nudged it under her breast to keep it warm! The baby knew just what to do and under it went!
Big Baby just said" What the Heck is going on, thats MY Mama!" . He took it all in and gave in to the fact that he now had a new sibling!

Now on to the INcu! I had to discard all of Mama Jap's eggys! So sad! As a lot of you know , the gene that makes a Japanese Bantam Short and cute is also the gene that will most times kill the embryo. Sometimes the baby makes it so if you get an offspring the majority will have longer legs. Well both my parents are very Short legged , so the embryos died in Egg. So sad! Now I know that if I am to get babies from this pair I will have to give them different partners from the Japanese Clan!
So now we are waiting on The last Barred Rock egg and two Mille Fluer! So Far all is well! Looks as if the next to hatch will be the BR egg!

This is not a good pic , but if you look closely you will be able to see the egg tooth trying to break the interior skin!

This message was edited Sep 8, 2007 8:27 AM

While waitng on the next Blessed Event, I decided to do a little investigating! I wanted to look at the empty Shell that baby #2 hatched from! I knew that i had pecked a hole in the "Air" end of the shell to see if the baby was still alive. I was very careful not to injure the inner skin. This way I could see movement but the interior wouldnt lose its moisture. I upped the humidity in the incu and kept it covered.

Now on examination I see that the baby did not Come out the hole I had pecked in the shel nor did it try to make it wider! It actually looks as if it pecked around the edges and then pushed with its head and feet and cracked the egg in half!

I am still so amazed! I hope this little bit of "How did it hatch!", was as exciting to you as it was to me! LOL!!

Now we wait for #3!!

I see the tooth! Isn't this fun? Your new baby is adorable. And smart too. LOL

Oh my, little "Experiment" is so smart! It is already following its Mama and "Big Kid" around ! Here it is already on top of the feeder trying to figure it out!

Eufaula, just to say hi and i have tryed to call you
texasgardenmom said hi.

Hey Eufaula - did you end up with any more chicks???

Oh Hey Every one! Im sorry I just havent been home enough to keep up with the posts! I am now working two jobs and I am hardly ever home!
I'm sorry to say that Mama only got two babies out of the clutch of eggs . But the little Boogers are so healthy. I am so surprised after all the heat the eggs went through that these little fellas even hatched!
They are now named " Big Kid" and " 'Speriment"!
The funny news is that I now have two more Japanese Bantams and My little Silkie Setting! I purposely put Silkie eggs in each one of the nests to insure that Somebody hatched me some more! With Winter coming I wanted to be sure that Old "Uggie" and"MissPurty Sang" Had enough Roost mates to keep them warm during the up coming cold weather!

I love the names! lol You're so creative! I haven't even named my ducks yet......got 10 names of ducks for me?!? lol Good luck with the new clutches!! Let us know how they do! :)

First day out of the Brooder ! Too much to do and too much to eat to be still for a photo!

This one isnt much better!

I have to tell everyone that I got to see the little buggers in person. They are sooooooo cute and Mama is VERY protective. Can't wait to see what the Black Jap hen does!! Also wanted to let Eufaula know that Crow Warrior is doing wonderfully and Easter Roo is a bit of a bully. LOL, but Beanie put Roo in his place while Mr. Sultan showed off his top hat. They are some wild characters!!!!

Awwww, Hey Bubbles , and thanks for the update on the Boys!
Well we had a mishap with Mama Black Japanese. I found all her eggs broken or gone yesterday. I'm pretty sure we had a Squirrel raider! I see the critters in the pens all the time enjoying the chickens food, but never figured they would go after the eggs too. So now I only have miss purdy and miss Grey Japanese Setting! Miss Grey will hatch hers this week , Hopefully tomorrow!

Not a problem, the boys are such a joy to have around!! I am sooooo happy I got them!!!! Sorry to hear about the little black jap. I wouldn't think squirrels would get in there and eat them either.......Do you think it could have been anything or anyone else?? I bet she is upset. My white hen and her man ate one of their eggs the other day (even with all the extra stuff I've been giving them), cracked the barred rock egg my son put out there, and hasn't laid anymore. She has one in there she laid Wednesday, I think, but hasn't even thought of sitting. I am starting to wonder if I should try to put her with Crow Warrior or not even try another clutch with her.

I would watch her for a while! If that was her first try at laying , she might just be still too young to brood! Sometimes a new broody will try to set on eggs and will accidentally break one or two . This will attract the Rooster and he will clean the nest! So just keep an ey e on her and if she breaks and eats any more , you definitely will have a problem. ...but I just dont think she broke the eggs on purpose!
Oh and yep Squirrels will break up a nest of eggs!

Well this morning I woke to hear a little peeper! Sure enough in the little incu was a head and a foot kicking and a really determined younster coming out into the world! the Papa for this baby is definitely Happy Feet!

I could see that it was extremely vigorous and determined! ....AND LOUD!