Recent content by xiamenmom

We got one to hatch, but I think something went wrong and I'm not sure it will make it. This afternoon about 1, there was just a tiny hole in the egg. About 5, the back legs were starting to come out. When we checked again at 8, the back half of the chick was out of the egg, but the head seemed...

Went to see if there was any action under my broody hen, and two eggs were empty, but no chicks :( There was a hole the size of a quarter on one of them, and the baby was gone, but the egg wasn't cracked like it had hatched. Found the other egg, collapsed on itself, as though it had been sucked...

I did my first attempt at candling on Saturday, but only did two of the five eggs as momma hen wasn't happy w/ me messing w/ them. Both were all dark inside, so I'm hoping that we have chicks this weekend or maybe next Monday (seems that momma brooded eggs hatch later than incubator ones)

I'm not going to use the hen that let the chick die (although I'm sure that some chicks die no matter what, right?). I'm using the one whose eggs never hatched, but I got three newly hatched chicks from the farm stand and she was a great momma to them until she went broody again.

I hope to learn from you if you're successful! We've tried w/ three broody hens this year, had only one chick hatch, and she pushed it aside and let it die. So this is our fourth attempt now, with the same mom that sat on the first batch. So frustrating!

I'm setting my broody cochin today to hatch some eggs from our other hens. Should be a mix of Easter Eggers and Black Comets, with an Ameracauna rooster. Not sure how many eggs until I see what was laid this morning.

My hen has been sitting on eggs for 26 or 27 days - tomorrow will be 4 weeks. Yesterday, I had given up on the eggs hatching and pulled them from beneath her. Out of curiousity of where each had stopped in development, I wanted to crack them and see the state the embyo was in. Imagine my dismay...

So, do all Amerecaunas/Easter Eggers have the fluffy face? I have one hen that was called an Amerecauna, and she doesn't have a fluffy face. The other does have the face feathers and was labelled an Easter Egger. Their eggs look identical except one hen's are a tiny bit bigger. I wonder what my...

No signs of any hatching - mom set the eggs, not an incubator, and I put her on the eggs late in the evening on the 9th. I'll give it through tomorrow, but then I think I give up. Of course, another hen went broody today :( Third in a row, each goes broody the day or two after the other's eggs...

Nothing happening here. Afraid this will be the second broody hen this season to set for three weeks for nothing :(

Just found this today - don't know if any of my eggs will hatch since they are being incubated by momma hen, not an incubator, and we had record lows this week :( She's sitting on five eggs - the roo is an Americauna, and the eggs are from a Black Star, an Easter Egger and an Americauna. Hoping...

Goodness, my silkie roo that is at least 5-6 months old just started to crow this week! BTW, how do you tell already what the sex of any of the chicks is? We love all three of our little ones and keeping fingers crossed for hens.

Wow, do chicks grow up fast! My foster babies that were hatched last Wed/Thursday are already getting real feathers on their wings, and the Americauna has some really pretty copper colors. And they are so funny to watch, as they already act just like big chickens - I brought momma some fresh...

No, not sexed :( So I'm just hoping they don't end up being roos!