McmillanBirds wrote:Hi
Congrats on your 3rd baby!!!
Breeding season in South Africa is normally between September and end of November. Last year I had an early batch though, in late August. It's so exciting to go to the aviaries and see the eggs and then when they start hatching I am like a proud mom, I can't contain myself!!!!
Johan S is right though with babies hatching late. My 1 albino hen laid 6 eggs last year. When five of them hatched I thought there was no way the last 1 would hatch but it did a week and a half later after the first baby!!!! By the time I saw it though it had been squashed under the others
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/2.gif)
I have decided in future if any of my hens have more than 5 eggs I am going to take the excess eggs away and put them with a hen who has less eggs that goes down at more or less the same time as I don't have an incubator.
All the best with the new babies. Hope some more hatch but 3 is a good number for a first clutch
Carmen
Hi Carmen, glad to see another SA aviculturist on the board. 2 comments:
1) Our breeding season depends on the location. My dad stays in the Southern Cape area in the coastal region, and he regularly has birds starting in July already! Quite amazing, I think. He also has quite a number of pairs starting early August. Unfortunately, the land locked inlanders with the harsher winters typically start much later, towards middle/end August, as you have pointed out.
2) A solution to large clutches is to replace the eggs early on with "false eggs". You can make these eggs from clay and colour them white. Store the real eggs someplace safe at about 25 degrees Celsius. Then, once the hen has finished laying, replace the false eggs with the real eggs. This way, the incubation period starts at the same time for all the eggs and the chicks should hatch within a day or two of one another. Just be sure to get the eggs early. Alternatively, use an incubator and replace the false eggs much later, close to the time that they are expected to hatch.