HATCHING CHICKS my experience

chickenchick12

Chirping
5 Years
Jun 21, 2014
174
11
63
Yesterday I went to check on our small, home hatched chick. But the door that we had put on the nest was lying on the ground and momma chicken was in a new nest. Candy(the chick)was missing. Outside I heard a loud peeping. I got my 3 younger sisters and we looked for almost 15mins before finding the frightened chick in a clump of grass quite a ways from the coop. I was really shaken by the experience. Right after returning the chick to it's mother I noticed a small crack in an egg
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. We had it under a broody so I knew it was hatching. I left it alone and gave it all day. That night I checked again and there was absolutely no progress. I carefully removed the shell and membrane.
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The chick seemed alright (although very wet and ugly) so I put it under a broody. This morning I went back out and the chick was fluffed and looking healthy. We've named it Minty. Just thought I'd share the amazing experience. But this isn't the first time that I've had to help a chick. It has happened once before. Is it normal for them to take so long in hatching? The other 2 that I've hatched were already fluffed by the time we found them.
The chicks are so cute!
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Minty's older sibling has been found perched on Dusty(the lucky mother)'s back. It is a fun thing to hatch chicks, so, if you have the experience, a rooster, and a broody, give extending your flock through some homegrown eggs a try!
(check out my other threads on chick hatching ''SUPRISE CHICK HATCH need advice'' and ''EGG HATCHING! HELP'')
chickenchick12
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Another egg hatched! But I had to help it and I think there was a reason that it couldn't hatch on its own. When I got home from volleyball practice I found the chick dead. It looked fully developed but a glob of bloody yolk was stuck to its vent. Everyone say a prayer for the poor thing.
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Thanks,
chickenchick12
 
I have a dilemma! Earlier this morning I tried to move the 2 chicks and their mother out of the crowded nest box and into a brooder box. I took the momma first and then went to get the chicks. I put the older one in first. When momma hen saw the chick she freaked out and started chasing it around the box. I grabbed the chick before it got to ugly. Dusty(the mom)had fluffed all her feathers and looked totally ferocious. Upon putting them back in he nest they all seemed completely normal. Dusty is an Auracauna. I thought that they are supposed to be good mothers?
Help needed,
chickenchick12
 
Why are you trying to move them? If you have a good mother hen, she'll take care of them. No need to intervene. If you try moving them around, she can get confused and abandon one or both of them. I'd leave them alone unless you notice something wrong.
 
Minty is dead.
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I don't know why but she might have suffocated in wood chips. And last night she wasn't acting as perky as usual. Maybe she got sick
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I now have 2 chicks one with an Old English hen(she is now bigger than her mother)and the other with Dusty. It is so sad to lose a chick.
With tears in her eyes,
chickenchick12
 
Why are you trying to move them? If you have a good mother hen, she'll take care of them. No need to intervene. If you try moving them around, she can get confused and abandon one or both of them. I'd leave them alone unless you notice something wrong.
I was trying to move them because the nest box is stuffy and crowded. If I move them then would a cat carrier be a better idea?
 

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