First time chicken mama, Joanna, snuck off and hatched 14 babies! Unfortunately, she had them nested in a precarious spot...read on for more about the ordeal!
Joanna disappear a few weeks ago and we looked everywhere for her. I mean EVERYWHERE. Or so we thought. After Joanna had been missing for 14 days, we found her. In the attic of the chicken coop of all places! We were ecstatic to see that she was alive and well!
She had laid a clutch of eggs and had gone broody. She wanted to be a mama! We waited until she got up from her nest to get a bite to eat and then we ran up to count and check on the eggs!
24 eggs in total with 14 showing signs of viability! Wow!!
She had been gone for 14 days and baby chicks typically take between 18-21 days to hatch so we knew they were close.
4 days later, on day 18, there as a "peep" heard from the attic. Babies were coming! We scrambled to get mama Joanna and babies moved down from the attic so they wouldn't fall. It was still 30's at night and much too cold for babies so all were whisked into the garage.
By the time we got mama and babies moved to the garage, she had 5 hatched and 3 very close! She is a smaller hen and first time mama so we left her with 8 babies and took the remaining 6 eggs into the house. She is big enough to keep 8 babies warm but probably not any more.
Thankfully, we were able to make room in one of the (currently running) incubators for her remaining eggs. The next morning, her 3 babies and the 6 in the incubator had hatched! Mama Joanna got to move outside with her babies after it warmed up a few days later and they are enjoying exploring!