[Barrett]

Thank goodness guys my 4 broody girls have all finished now so they can get some better condition on them ready for winter however, I do incubate all year round I have 2 5 week olds that are now in a separate part of the coop with lots of straw, and also 3 chicks in the shed under the heat lamp and another 6 in the incubator, if I notice any little ones getting cold I just put them in the shed with the heat lamp, though being in North Somerset it doesn't get as cold here.

[Bramblecot]

4 weeks ago I found a 'missing' Silkie tucked under a fuchsia bush by the house wall and sitting on 18 eggs - a mixture of bantam and full size hen eggs.  I candled the eggs and left her with 6.  I thought it was late to move her as she had been missing for 2 weeks.  She hatched 4 chicks and I moved them to a small run and box.  Last week I put them in with two other broody (but eggless Silkies) and they are now one big family.  The two surrogate hens are just as protective as mum; they all end up in one nest box at night!

[suziequeue]

Well - having read everything on here we decided to let our broody have her day and got her some eggies to sit on which she is doing with great care now. I am stunned by the complexity of the instinctive behaviour she is displaying (we got her at 12 weeks and nobody else has reared chicks)

We have six eggs from which we might get three chicks of which two will be cockerels I expect. But even if we get nothing at the end of the day, it's got us thinking about raising birds for meat and how we would do it so we are working towards that now which gives me great pleasure as my husband loves roast chicken for his Sunday lunch even though we have a freezer full of lamb and pork!

so - looking forward to the prospect of learning loads..... Have already decided to get an automatic plucker though !!!

[Barrett]

I do think the weather has a lot to answer for of late, everything is so confused I still have fruit on my raspberry canes.

[benkt]

Well, our broody in the garage hatched three from three eggs this week. So she has maintained her 100% hatching rate for the year. The chicks seem to be doing fine in a little run in the garage with her looking after them so it can be done - lets hope it doesn't get too cold for them before they've put a bit of weight and feather on.