First Hatch Ever!!!!! Waffles' Egg Journey:

[The Chick Addict]

Hello Everyone! This is our (me and my chickens) first time hatching eggs ever!!!!! I bought my sweet babies last March, on the 11 and they have made their way for their turn to hatch eggs! I am SOOO proud! I have decided to kick off this spring hatch with having my Buff Orpington hen, Waffles, hatch her egg. She went broody yesterday and sat on her egg all day and it was too late to collect it . I candled it and I could see a small object floating around. I let her sit on it for the rest of the day, she didn't even get up to roost, which is expected of course. This morning I candled it again and the object had turned into a large spot! I looked up pictures of what hatching eggs look like on the second day and it looked exactly like it!!!! I am so excited and proud for Waffles. She is a VERY protective mother! She pecked any chicken that came near her super hard! They are okay though, lol. She didn't even get up for free-ranging. I am hoping that it will be a successful hatch and it will be excited to find out who the father is when it hatches. The dad will either be my lead Rooster, Buddy, who is a White Cochin Bantam, Bootleg, a Black Silkie Bantam, and maybe Cow Bunting (his name is a long story ). He really loves the Buff Orp girls but usually prefers my other Buff Orp girl, Emerald. I am hoping for it to be Buddy; I would love to see a Buffin mix, lol!!! I know Waffles will be a great mother and I am so happy and excited! I will try to report the development every other day if I can!

Thanks for reading!

 

[picklestheduck]

Exciting! I would be a bit concerned with it only being one egg though, you may want to have a backup ready with other young chicks for buddies since chicks were meant to have siblings. Good luck keep us updated.

 

[The Chick Addict]

Welp. Perpetua, my sisters Brahma girl, kicked Waffles off the nest and accidentally cracked the egg and ate it!I'm going to try again tomorrow; I might bring her inside to prevent this from happening again!!!! No worries, I'm going to start again from scratch.

 

[picklestheduck]

Welp. Perpetua, my sisters Brahma girl, kicked Waffles off the nest and accidentally cracked the egg and ate it!I'm going to try again tomorrow; I might bring her inside to prevent this from happening again!!!! No worries, I'm going to start again from scratch.

Oh I’m so sorry! I would recommend setting her on a handful of eggs.

 

[The Chick Addict]

Oh I’m so sorry! I would recommend setting her on a handful of eggs.

Thank you! I will try doing that!

 

[The Chick Addict]

Hey Y'all! So today is the third day! I let Waffles and another hen that just when broody (a Silver Partridge Silkie named Debbie) hatch a clutch of 7 eggs. Unfortunately, my Guinea Fowl, Earl, flew down from the roost and landed hard in their nesting area and cracked one of the eggs I was really excited about ! Now we have 6 originals and I added another egg into the clutch. I am definitely seeing some embryo growth in the eggs and I hope they will make it. I'm unsure about a few of them but I will wait and see. Also is it normal for broodys to have watery poop? Thanks for reading!

 

[picklestheduck]

Hey Y'all! So today is the third day! I let Waffles and another hen that just when broody (a Silver Partridge Silkie named Debbie) hatch a clutch of 7 eggs. Unfortunately, my Guinea Fowl, Earl, flew down from the roost and landed hard in their nesting area and cracked one of the eggs I was really excited about ! Now we have 6 originals and I added another egg into the clutch. I am definitely seeing some embryo growth in the eggs and I hope they will make it. I'm unsure about a few of them but I will wait and see. Also is it normal for broodys to have watery poop? Thanks for reading!

Do you mean you added an egg a few days after they started sitting on them? That means staggered hatch and can make some difficulties. I would suggest separating the broody hen so she doesn’t get kicked off the nest or so eggs don’t get busted by others.

 

[The Chick Addict]

Do you mean you added an egg a few days after they started sitting on them? That means staggered hatch and can make some difficulties. I would suggest separating the broody hen so she doesn’t get kicked off the nest or so eggs don’t get busted by others.

Okay so I removed the egg I added and I couldn't see the development earlier this morning as good but I checked when I went to lock them up. They are doing awesome! According to my research, () their hearts started beating today! Sadly, my Guinea flew off the roost and landed hard on the nesting spot and cracked another egg but I'm positive it won't happen again. Thanks for the info, pickles!

 

[The Chick Addict]

Today the eggs seem to be developing well! Here are a pic from yesterday!

 

[The Chick Addict]

Sorry for the very late update, I had brought Debbie and Waffles inside because the others were trying to kick them off the nest. Eventually, the set of eggs ended up exploding and there was nothing inside except for semi-solid egg white and yolk mixed together looking like scrambled egg. Was quit the chaos and I had to move Debbie and Waffles back outside with the other chickens. Took them a bit to get integrated again and they had lost a lot of weight but they are integrated and healthy again!