Last year, we set some bought eggs under our little Pekin bantam Cookie when she went broody. She hatched one, an Orpington who grew up to be our (hopefully) breeding rooster. He's been trying to mate with our two Australorp hens who Cookie also raised (we snuck them under her as tiny chicks and she adopted them) at the same time.
Now I've got six eggs, and we know who the dad is (hopefully he's doing it right and actually will be a dad), and we know the eggs are from one or both of the Australorps--who incidently don't have names and are just called "The Black Hens." They might as well be the same chicken for all we're concerned--they're from the same batch, sisters, and look exactly alike; they're down on the egg-laying score card as "blacks" next to Rock, Florry, and Cucky (seven year old's spelling).
But back to Cookie (or Cucky if you prefer). She's been sitting on the nest and after a week of waiting to be sure, those eggs have gone under her. In fact, we had to delay for several days because of the so-called Beast from the East storm which brought us several inches of snow and about five days of sub-zero temps. I thought if she got up for a drink or a bite to eat, those eggs would freeze without her, so we waited, taking whatever eggs she'd collected that day from everyone else, until it warmed up.
Due date is 27 March, or thereabouts. We'll give her until 3 April and if nothing's hatched as mentioned previously, Plan B is to sneak bought chicks under her. Come on Cookie (and good luck Toasty and Black Hens)!
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