It was 21 days on Saturday since I got my fertile Marans eggs from friends Phil and Lindy, and put them under my broody hen. Right on time, 9 of the eggs hatched, and another hatched a day later. Ten out of twelve is a pretty good success rate, so fingers crossed that we can keep them all well.
As the hen went broody under our house stairs I let her brood there, but had a shed ready to move them too, with weed mat over the concrete and a layer of wood shavings. Apparently you can upset a hen by moving her when she’s on eggs, but once they hatch she will go where the chicks go, if you move them. Fortunately the chicks complain if there’s something wrong, so I was able to find one that had got away from the initial brood when I moved them; it was chirping loudly under the stairs and attracting the rest of the hens. Another fell down between a corrugation in the shed and the flooring, and likewise we heard the chirping and were able to rescue it.
It’s fascinating to watch her teach them to eat and drink. I’ve got a shallow water tray and a chick feed tray, and she moves them over for an eat and drink periodically, then back to the deep shavings to nest.
So we have two blond chicks and eight dark ones. I haven’t checked the dark ones closely but there seems to be variation in colour between them. It will be interesting to see what they become, as they came from several Marans hens and two roosters. I’ll update with a photo as they get feathers.