Day 21 is here - first timer

Finally, day 21 is here - I am afraid to look now!  LOL

I marked the date on the calendar that I placed two eggs under my broody Australorp and didn't collect her eggs any longer.  Is there more fluctuation in hatching with a hen versus incubator?  I've been reading some of these other threads and saw advice about waiting until day 23 before giving up.  If we don't end up with any live babies, I guess I will have to get some chicks to console myself and my daughter.

We removed some non-fertilized eggs after the first week and half..  We didn't do much candling overall [don't know what we're doing and too nervous], and I know we never candled the two that I placed from other hens.  They look different and hubby never pulled either one out from under her to candle.

We moved Olivia to a dog crate that has very small square wiring for the sides and a solid plastic bottom.  When we moved Olivia, her sister Opal had gone into the nest, too, so we just left them together.  The nest box front was nailed to the platform we took it off of, so this left the front open and they gradually wiggled some straw and their eggs out and are sitting on them outside what was the nest box.  I hope that isn't going to mess anything up? 

This is so nerve wracking!! 

I've got one egg with a tiny hole in it and a little one inside pipping away!  I didn't examine the others - it happened to be the last one I picked up to move it back in to the nest.  I got a heavy piece of wood to put in front of the nest to keep the straw and eggs inside for now. 

I hope the baby hatches out okay - prayers and good vibes appreciated!

One success!!!  The little peeper looks good - up and hopping around when I moved momma.  They had pushed the wood away and had everything out on the floor of the crate again, so I got a cardboard tray and was trying to move everything in it and the one hen stood up and out popped little chickie! 

The one who had been sitting on the chick and eggs seemed like she tried to peck the baby, so I took her out and put her back with her RIR coop-mate.  She's fired!  LOL   The other hen hovered over the chick and nudged the eggs under herself.  She's got the right idea.    It's funny, too, because she's not the one that went totally broody; she was off the nest a lot and just started wedging herself in there a lot over the last week or so.

Not hearing anything coming from the other eggs - I did put each one up to my ear to listen.    I didn't get a picture of the chick, due to the one trying to peck it and the other one getting really upset about me messing with the nest.  I didn't want to push my luck.   I'll go back later for a pic. 

I've learned so much from reading on this forum - next time I will be able to do a much better job and hopefully get several chicks.  At least we have one...I need to figure out a name, something that means "first" and could be for boy or girl.  Any ideas?

Got a pic of its itty bitty little face - so much cuteness in such a tiny package!

Mom could either be a Barred Rock or a Buff Orp, and dad is possibly a Black Polish mix?  [to clarify, we know who the dad is, just not what breed/mix] Any guesses on which mama laid this baby?

Here's the proud papa...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Life is Good! 

Congrads! 

 

Just let Mom hen do her work....it may be that one hen is better at sitting on eggs and the other more able to care for 'free-range' chicks (i.e. out of the shell!).  Don't discount the one that pecked the baby, that's how they discipline - generally never too hard, just a 'hey, get back here' kind of thing.  Or at least that's what it is in my flock.

Yeah, I got one of those discipline pecks while taking the picture! 

lol

Not a hard peck at all, just a "Hey, knock it off" peck.