We Have New Babies Again!

My steady broody Buff Orpington Sassy has hatched us another clutch of eggs again.  I let her set 12 this time but I think we still only have about a 50% hatch.  Part of the problem may be one of my roosters.  One of my special roosters may be sterile or something because I am sure I have tried to set his eggs before.  This time I actually marked them and I don't think any of his have hatched  I will know more tomorrow.  I am still letting her try to hatch till probably tomorrow.  Then I will remove any unhatched eggs.

Love it when they snuggle up under mom.  He kept hiding.

 

The incubation couldn't have been any more perfect.  I was able to fully separate her from day one and all the eggs were put under her at the same time.  I've never been able to successfully do that before.  I was so hoping for a better hatch rate.  Grateful for the 6 sweeties we have so far.  I'm still not sure one of them will make it.  It has been pretty weak from hatch and still wasn't getting around very well this afternoon.   We have two Easter Eggers, two Plymouth Barred Rocks, one Buff Orpington, and a miscellaneous blackish one.  They are all of course just barnyard mixes since my head rooster is a Barred Rock mix.  It's gonna be fun to see how everyone feathers out.

I am suspecting that the little one in all of these pictures is a cockerel.  He is bold, sassy, and just full of life right now.  He is always front and center (why he is in all the pics) and doesn't seem to be aftraid of much.  The others keep running everytime I try to take pictures!  I will eventually get a shot of all of them.  Patience!  For now i will just enjoy watching them and handling them as much as I can.  So glad they are safe and sound in the nursery and I don't have to worry about them being pecked on or trampled on.