"Springing in the Chicks" 2016 April Hatch-a-Long Hosted by Mike & Sally

Out of 8 eggs set on April 23, one made it to term, and as of last night, no pipping. Hattie (the broody) is doing the encouragement clucks, though, so that seems like a good sign. Come on, baby!

ChickenHermit said:

Out of 8 eggs set on April 23, one made it to term, and as of last night, no pipping. Hattie (the broody) is doing the encouragement clucks, though, so that seems like a good sign. Come on, baby!

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Hope it hatches so Hattie can have her chick to raise!

Its peeping faintly, but so far nothing. We did grab two banty chicks today, as the feedstock had day-olds and chicks tend to be happier in groups. Hopefully hearing the new little silkie + polish will encourage it too. Hattie is thrilled, but then I've never seen her turn a chick down- she's one amazing mama.

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UPDATE: We have a pip! And the little one is peeping madly! The new sibs must have made for a good motivator.

And we have a brand new chick, as of this morning! Which makes my statistics for this hatch 1/8, but that's 1/1 for the fertile ones. My roos just aren't that great at roo-ing! But I'm excited the new little one made it- I was worried for a bit there. Black little at-least-half-silkie.

ChickenHermit said:

And we have a brand new chick, as of this morning! Which makes my statistics for this hatch 1/8, but that's 1/1 for the fertile ones. My roos just aren't that great at roo-ing! But I'm excited the new little one made it- I was worried for a bit there. Black little at-least-half-silkie. 

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Congrats

ChickenHermit said:

And we have a brand new chick, as of this morning! Which makes my statistics for this hatch 1/8, but that's 1/1 for the fertile ones. My roos just aren't that great at roo-ing! But I'm excited the new little one made it- I was worried for a bit there. Black little at-least-half-silkie.

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Congratulations!

The pictures may be a bit out of order, but here I finally got on the story of Aviator and Lee.

So, here they are now, happily living inside their bucket with a heat light hanging from my closet door (secured well), a stuffed chicken to cuddle with, a hat they sometimes sleep in, and a waterer (out of view). Lee is the smaller one.


Here they are when I first brought Aviator inside. He was cuddled up with his brother but not so sure about humans. Now he will sit on my hand while I'm typing, not minding that it is moving up and down.


Here they are ready to get down for exercise. I spread out a sheet (since they poop so much) and then let them run around and flap their wings. They come to me when I tap the ground and enjoy cuddles and perching on your shoulder or arm. Lee still prefers cuddles above perching. Aviator has the red markings on the face.


Lee after his bath. You can see his little belly-button and thin frame with a too large head. I'm pretty sure this was a bath to clean off his back-end, after-which he needs extra cuddles so as not to get chills.


Lee tired and weak, when he rested under my shirt or in my pocket most of the day and ate every 10 minutes or so, for about 2 minutes, before sleeping again.


The two playing on the sheet together, eating food. You can see Aviator is still a little wary of the camera.


Take upon hatching. He is the third chick that drowned while trying to escape the predator that got his mother.


Lee during his assisted hatch. The hole in the top was to monitor his progress before finding his beak and opening a hole there. Lee bled a lot and was weak because of it. His stunting was more due to nearly dying while outside and then not getting enough to eat or drink, instead of because of the blood-loss at hatching (he got over that quickly).


Take is already drying off and helped encourage the very weak Lee with snuggles and chirps. I'm sad that Take died, but he was such a great brother to both the more feral Aviator and precious little Lee.


I think this is Lee after his first bath, since the water is up to his neck. I breathed warm air on him through cupped hands, then felt the water until it wouldn't burn or stun him but would bring his temperature back to normal (too warm temperatures can suddenly turn the body hot and cause the cold to rush to the internal organs so I hear).


Lee, Take and Aviator happily feeding with their mother. RIP Pip, you were an amazing chicken for the years I had you.