A few weeks ago, my silkie pullet went broody and I let her sit on an egg; y'know, why not? I didn't even take down the date, if that illustrates how not-serious about the whole thing I was. So a few days later, I was like, "Hey! Puff's sitting on an egg!" and shown a flashlight through it. Well, now. That's interesting. Light doesn't shine through this thing. THERE'S SOMETHING IN HERE!!
I still didn't think it would hatch or anything, and that hypothesis was strengthened when I found Puff in a different nesting box and the egg was cold to touch. I didn't really have the heart to take it out, so I moved her back. She did this four more times.
One of those occasions was within three days of it hatching, and one was the night before. Oh, yeah, BTW... it hatched!!!
Everything I've read about incubating eggs says things about how humidity, temperature, etc. need to be perfect or the chick will die... so what happened?
The chick is doing great so far. "He" is walking and ate something today after watching mom* eat it. Well, I hope things go okay, I'm still just stunned "he" is alive...
*"He's" a Welsummer x New Hampshire Red
I still didn't think it would hatch or anything, and that hypothesis was strengthened when I found Puff in a different nesting box and the egg was cold to touch. I didn't really have the heart to take it out, so I moved her back. She did this four more times.
One of those occasions was within three days of it hatching, and one was the night before. Oh, yeah, BTW... it hatched!!!
Everything I've read about incubating eggs says things about how humidity, temperature, etc. need to be perfect or the chick will die... so what happened?
The chick is doing great so far. "He" is walking and ate something today after watching mom* eat it. Well, I hope things go okay, I'm still just stunned "he" is alive...
*"He's" a Welsummer x New Hampshire Red