Miracle chick!

Northern nurse

In the Brooder
5 Years
May 2, 2014
47
6
24
Well I have had a hen who went broody several weeks ago, I didn't let her sit on eggs because it has been so blooming cold I couldn't imagine chicks surviving and I would have to buy fertile eggs anyway and they would have frozen in transit. Anyway, my daughter finally bought some fertile eggs to try incubating some babies out, she had too many eggs to fit in her tiny incubator so she gave me 6 eggs to put under my hen plus I left a couple of mine under her on the off chance my little roo had fertilized something. I have decided I really shouldn't be allowed to raise chicks from scratch because pretty much any bad thing that could happen to those eggs has. To start with, the shipped eggs had air cells that were a little shakey. Day one, one of the other hens laid a soft shelled egg in her nest box (they have another box but they all wanted to use the one the broody was in) the eggs were covered with sticky egg and yoke so I had to wash them off(didn't know that was a no no). Put them back under the broody, and moved on. Next day I went to take broody out to make sure she would have some food and water and 3 of the eggs fell out onto the cement floor and cracked, I threw 2 of them away as they were badly damaged, one just had a tiny hairline crack so I put that one back under her. I placed a cardboard box full of shavings on the floor under the door to the nest so if that happened again, they would be cushioned. A few days later, I came home to discover I had failed to secure the back door to the nest box well, it was open all the eggs were in the cardboard box and cold! Back under broody. Sigh... Few days later, I had taken broody out to eat, one of the other hens was climbing in the front of the box, I went to shoe her out, as she scrambled to get out she pushed on the hay with the eggs and they all slid out the back and fell into the cardboard box! Another cracked egg! A few days later, one of the eggs is missing! Totally gone, no evidence of it anywhere! It was the one with the crack, I am assuming with that with broody and 3 other hens climbing in and out of the nest box, it had cracked open and they had eaten it. Down to 3 eggs. I had tried candling them a couple times but couldn't really see much ( don't know what I am doing).
A couple days ago, one had exploded, stinky goo in the nest. I threw some clean hay under the 2 remaining eggs. I had NO hope for anything coming from them, my plan was to get some chicks from tractor supply this week and sneak them under her. In the mean time, my husband had been working on sectioning off another 4x6 area to brood out the babies, just not quite ready yet. I peeked at the eggs this morning when we were working on the new coop area, no evidence of anything happening. A couple hours later I went out to throw some stale bread to the girls and I couldn't believe my ears when I hear a faint peeping! I peek in the nest, broody and my big fat Wyandotte are in the nest and under the Wyandotte, a tiny black chick! The nest box is probably 8-9" off the floor so I didn't dare leave mom and baby there. I scooped up mom, baby and egg and put them in a cardboard box in the house. She can hang out in here as it is supposed to be well below zero again tonight. I was totally shocked to discover later that the second egg had pipped! Still waiting to see if that one will survive or not but the one I got is totally a miracle baby!
 
Well I have had a hen who went broody several weeks ago, I didn't let her sit on eggs because it has been so blooming cold I couldn't imagine chicks surviving and I would have to buy fertile eggs anyway and they would have frozen in transit. Anyway, my daughter finally bought some fertile eggs to try incubating some babies out, she had too many eggs to fit in her tiny incubator so she gave me 6 eggs to put under my hen plus I left a couple of mine under her on the off chance my little roo had fertilized something. I have decided I really shouldn't be allowed to raise chicks from scratch because pretty much any bad thing that could happen to those eggs has. To start with, the shipped eggs had air cells that were a little shakey. Day one, one of the other hens laid a soft shelled egg in her nest box (they have another box but they all wanted to use the one the broody was in) the eggs were covered with sticky egg and yoke so I had to wash them off(didn't know that was a no no). Put them back under the broody, and moved on. Next day I went to take broody out to make sure she would have some food and water and 3 of the eggs fell out onto the cement floor and cracked, I threw 2 of them away as they were badly damaged, one just had a tiny hairline crack so I put that one back under her. I placed a cardboard box full of shavings on the floor under the door to the nest so if that happened again, they would be cushioned. A few days later, I came home to discover I had failed to secure the back door to the nest box well, it was open all the eggs were in the cardboard box and cold! Back under broody. Sigh... Few days later, I had taken broody out to eat, one of the other hens was climbing in the front of the box, I went to shoe her out, as she scrambled to get out she pushed on the hay with the eggs and they all slid out the back and fell into the cardboard box! Another cracked egg! A few days later, one of the eggs is missing! Totally gone, no evidence of it anywhere! It was the one with the crack, I am assuming with that with broody and 3 other hens climbing in and out of the nest box, it had cracked open and they had eaten it. Down to 3 eggs. I had tried candling them a couple times but couldn't really see much ( don't know what I am doing).
A couple days ago, one had exploded, stinky goo in the nest. I threw some clean hay under the 2 remaining eggs. I had NO hope for anything coming from them, my plan was to get some chicks from tractor supply this week and sneak them under her. In the mean time, my husband had been working on sectioning off another 4x6 area to brood out the babies, just not quite ready yet. I peeked at the eggs this morning when we were working on the new coop area, no evidence of anything happening. A couple hours later I went out to throw some stale bread to the girls and I couldn't believe my ears when I hear a faint peeping! I peek in the nest, broody and my big fat Wyandotte are in the nest and under the Wyandotte, a tiny black chick! The nest box is probably 8-9" off the floor so I didn't dare leave mom and baby there. I scooped up mom, baby and egg and put them in a cardboard box in the house. She can hang out in here as it is supposed to be well below zero again tonight. I was totally shocked to discover later that the second egg had pipped! Still waiting to see if that one will survive or not but the one I got is totally a miracle baby!

What a great story! It is amazing how resilient they (and life in general) can be. So happy for you! Did the second one hatch?
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