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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Sorry to hear about the setting hen mishap.  Cat food and eggs...sounds 
like a possum to me.  That always seems to happen to me, too.  It never 
fails that something will scare a hen off the nest, and usually it 
happens right before the eggs hatch, so you have a weak hen and a lot of 
wasted time.  That's one of the downsides to letting nature take it's 
course-it's 'course' is rarely my 'course', especially when it comes to 
chickens.  We just have a lot of predators here.
This experience has made me want to set aside some money to buy another 
incubator.  I can't justify it right now, but maybe in the Spring or 
Summer after things get better(I'm thinking positive)  I'm definitely 
going to buy another one.  At the time I sold mine, I had a rooster and 
was free-ranging hens...had two or three broody girls..had no 
worries...but then the predation began and I lost almost all my birds. 
It seems like it has been a never ending battle to keep up the numbers, 
and the moment I let down my guard and allow the birds some freedom, 
that's when the 
hawks/eagles/owls/possums/coons/dogs/coyotes/bobcats/mountain 
lions/snakes fill in the blank freakin predator, strikes.

46 + 28 = 74  It would be nice to have 74 birds...I'd like to have about 
 24 hens and put the rest in the freezer...
Yeah, this incubation business does cost electricity, both in incubation 
and in raising the birds, but it is as close to a sure thing as you can 
get with chickens.

Bev

Robert Walton wrote:
> > Total chicken count = 46
>
> You sure have got your numbers up. I'm saving a few eggs to incubate.
> I'm just saving the darkest eggs, so they should be from my Marans
> hens. My good Marans hen was sitting on eggs in a little shed near the
> house that has freezers in it. Something came in and was eating cat
> food in the shed, I should have protected the hen, but forgot that
> day. Next morning I found her outside. Whatever (probably possum or
> skunk) got her off the nest and ate half the eggs. She went back on
> the nest, but left it later in the day. Eggs probably got cold and
> died.
>
> Anyway, there was a tuft of feathers there, so I'm just glad my hen is
> OK. Eggs were to hatch 1/5 or 6. I've got 7 young roosters that just
> started breeding hens and intend to dispatch them soon. There is a
> buff hen that is getting nesty maybe she'll go broody on me and do the
> work, if not I'll do the incubator method. I'd like some roos for late
> spring eating. There is a lot to be said for the incubator method.
>
> Rob - Va
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--
"The world is my country, all mankind are my
 brethren, and to do good is my religion."
 Thomas Paine (1737 - 1809)