ApesMullen
In the Brooder
- Apr 5, 2020
- 37
- 85
- 46
Hi Everyone,
My name is April, I live in Miami, FL. I started my chick journey in the middle of March 2020 when my hen Coco went broody. With everything going on right now with quarantine and the virus, my mom and I have been home 24/7 and I thought it would be the perfect time to go and buy some fertile eggs to put under her. We don't own a rooster, as it's not allowed in our neighborhood so the eggs that Coco lays are always infertile. She is the only hen we have and she lives peacefully among our two dogs, three cats, and two guinea pigs. She's a free roamer and never liked being in a chicken coop. We found out just how strong and adventurous she was back in 2017 when Hurricane Irma hit and my mom and I evacuated with all the animals to stay with some friends in Dallas, Texas. We were driving up there and we packed everyone in the car, the last thing to do was get Coco in a kennel to take her with us. She was NOT having it. When we opened the door to her chicken coop she took off running around the yard as happy as can be, but she would not go anywhere near the kennel. We finally made the decision to let her be, we decided to leave her during the hurricane and we prayed that she would find shelter under the house or somewhere safe. We didn't raise Coco from an egg or as a chick, we rescued her when Pelican Harbor Seabird Station had found her in Hialeah after she was attacked by a cat and needed spinal surgery. We adopted her in 2016 and she was already grown by then, but the vets at Pelican Harbor had told us that she was young, so we assume Coco is around 4-5 years old now. Anyways, we went to Dallas and my mom would check in with our neighbors, who decided to stay home, and they would send us pictures of her walking down the street after the hurricane. She looked healthier than ever, had a new set of feathers, and was doing her thing. We couldn't believe it. When we got home, we said goodbye to the small chicken coop and she has never used it since. She sleeps on top of the A/C Unit in the front of the house and would stare at herself all day in the mirror, we thought maybe she was lonely. She would lay eggs wherever she wanted all around the yard and hide them from us. But we never wanted her for eggs, we just wanted to give her a good home so we didn't mind. This February 2020, before my mom went to India for a month, Coco had gone brood. I had to take the eggs away from her so that she could go eat, she had laid 9. Coco would not budge and let me take the eggs so my mom went to her and said, "Coco, I promise you, that when I get back, we will give you your babies, okay? But you need to get up now so you can eat and walk around". Coco got up from the cardboard box she had laid the eggs in, and without a second thought, went back to her normal routine. That was the start of this journey. When my mom got back, Coco had gone broody again and I reminded my mom of the promise she made before she went on her trip. After a few hours of discussion, I finally convinced her to agree to get fertile eggs for Coco. One of my mom's friends recommended this local breeder in The Redlands where she had gotten her laying hens. Since I didn't know who else to contact, I sent her a text. Of course, she had eggs, so we decided to get half a dozen for $20. I drove out there, purchased the eggs. She showed me her chicken coop, she had Silver Polish Chickens, and those were the eggs I was purchasing. 5 Polish and 1 Americauna, she gave me an extra Americauna because it had just been laid when I arrived. So we had seven eggs in total. That night, I had switched out Coco's eggs for the fertile ones. It was a MISSION, though. Coco had laid her eggs in a secret spot: my mom's camping tent that was hanging out to dry on a large metal cage we had near the shed. I was receiving advice from the lady that sold me the eggs because I didn't know who else to ask. I got her on facetime, showed her where Coco was and told her that I need to move her to a safer place because we had a raccoon from our neighbor's yard that started to visit us and I didn't want him sniffing Coco and her eggs out. She said I could try picking the tent up where Coco was sitting and quickly move her in the backroom outside of my room where she could remain for 21 days. So, I found a plastic bin, slowly lifted Coco and her eggs up off the ground, and carefully placed her down in the plastic bin. I then gathered the rest of the tent in my hands and walked over to the outdoor room. I placed her down and actually put the large metal cage around her so that none of my other pets would go and bother her (not really for Coco's safety, but for theirs, Coco is strong and will take out one of my cat's eyes if they got too close while she's broody). From that day on, I began to track the eggs' process, and I began to research everything I could. The next day, I went to check Coco and one of the eggs had broken. In my head, some alarms went off, but I had texted the breeder and she said that it was probably a bad egg and Coco broke it for that reason. After she said that, I didn't think much else on the matter. Day 4, she pooped on one of the polish eggs and one of the Americauna blue eggs. Day 5, she abandoned the polish egg she pooped on and stopped giving it attention. We had 5 eggs left. On Day 11, I candled the eggs, I saw some things moving in some of the eggs but I didn't see any veins, which I now know is not a good sign. But since I didn't have too much knowledge on the subject yet, and I read online that if you aren't sure if the eggs are okay or not, just leave them, I decided to leave them. Day 14, one of the blue eggs exploded, rotten. The smell was so bad and Coco would not let me get close enough to remove it, so I left it, I asked the breeder if it was okay for me to leave the egg with the rest of them, and she said it was fine, that the other eggs had a protective bloom around them that would keep bacteria from getting in. Day 16, another egg exploded, this time it was a polish. I candled the eggs that night and realized that the three eggs that were left didn't have veins in them, they all had something floating around but no veins. At this point, I didn't know what to think. We contacted my grandma's friend who was a Farm Veterinarian and has been raising chickens for decades now. She said that if the eggs are bad that most likely I was sold bad eggs. I didn't want to believe that because I like to see the best in people but now I realize that she was right. All of the eggs had gone bad and I felt hopeless. I didn't want to blame anyone but myself. Another thing she had mentioned was that at night, I could've moved Coco, put her in a kennel and cleaned the whole area where she was and made her a comfortable nest to sit on. My Coco had been sitting on rotten eggs for a week because I was under the impression that it would be okay to leave her, according to what the breeder had said. That night, I moved Coco, cleaned up her area, and put her back on those three eggs that were left, they were already bad though. But I needed to think of Plan B, I didn't want to leave Coco with no chicks at the end of this. So, I looked into chick adoption, read many people's experiences, which is how I found this site. Reading what other people had gone through with their chick adoptions, really helped me in making my decision. I didn't know if Coco would accept them or even be a good mom because she had never done it before and she can be a fighter sometimes and aggressive. I went ahead and discussed this with the breeder and she said she had some polish babies that were going to hatch on April 4th, and Coco's due date for the eggs was the 5th, so it worked out perfectly. The lady was selling her polish chicks for $15 each, which I thought was expensive, especially after I bought eggs from her that didn't hatch, but anytime I tried to mention it she would get annoyed with me, leave me on read, or answer back with an offense. At this point, I kept my mouth shut because I really wanted babies for Coco, so I tried not to mention any other issue I had. All I did ask though, was that she gives me two females. Female polish chicks have prominent pom pom's on the top of their heads and can be sexed a bit easier than other breeds of chickens. She sent me photos of the two she picked out and right away I saw that one of the chicks did not have that pom pom shape and I asked her about it. She answered with, "you were fine with them yesterday. Please let me know if you do not want them so I don't keep them for shits and giggles." So, again, I shut my mouth, because I wanted those babies. I said, "no it's fine, I am still taking the babies, just know that in 6 months, if it turns out to be a rooster, I need to bring it back to you." She didn't reply. The day came to go pick up the chicks. I drove out to homestead, paid her $30 over Zelle because we didn't want there to be any human contact during the transaction, she brought the chicks out in a canister and plopped them into the small carrier we brought. She walked away fast, and I took a look at what she gave me. One female and one male, I couldn't believe it. After everything I went through, and her telling me she hatched 4 dozen chicks, she gave me a male after I told her I wouldn't be able to keep it. It's okay though, I took the babies home and got them ready to meet their new mama. If the second baby turns out to be a rooster, I have at least 5-6 months to find him a new home before he starts to crow. I went and brought the babies to Coco along with some broken eggshells because I love theatrics and wanted to really convince her that she hatched the babies herself LOL. I removed two of the eggs Coco was sitting on and quickly put the babies under her, from behind. They chirped for a little bit and soon went silent, she turned her head under her to check out what was going on a couple of times but soon went to sleep. I slept next to the cage last night and woke up at 6:30 am to be awake and see how Coco would react in the morning to her new babies. She was surprised but she picked up the eggshells in her beak a couple of times to examine them and I could hear the babies. Suddenly, a little beak appeared from under her wing. That's when I knew, she had accepted them as her own. All my fears were gone and a sense of relief swept over me, I wasn't anxious anymore, as my biggest fear was that she was going to kill them, and she didn't. Coco is now a new mom to two beautiful baby chicks, Dolly & Abba. I can't wait to learn more about the Polish breed and talk to other Polish Chicken owners, any advice that you guys have, I gladly welcome it. I'm so happy to be growing my chicken family, I'm hoping I am wrong and that Dolly is a female because I want to keep both babies obviously, but if anyone has advice on what I should do or who I could contact in case Dolly is a rooster, please message me. Killing is not an option! I want Dolly to live a good, happy life. Here are some photos of the babies and of my Coco when I had cleaned up and removed the tent and left her with a nice nest. I can post photos of the baby with their new mama later
My name is April, I live in Miami, FL. I started my chick journey in the middle of March 2020 when my hen Coco went broody. With everything going on right now with quarantine and the virus, my mom and I have been home 24/7 and I thought it would be the perfect time to go and buy some fertile eggs to put under her. We don't own a rooster, as it's not allowed in our neighborhood so the eggs that Coco lays are always infertile. She is the only hen we have and she lives peacefully among our two dogs, three cats, and two guinea pigs. She's a free roamer and never liked being in a chicken coop. We found out just how strong and adventurous she was back in 2017 when Hurricane Irma hit and my mom and I evacuated with all the animals to stay with some friends in Dallas, Texas. We were driving up there and we packed everyone in the car, the last thing to do was get Coco in a kennel to take her with us. She was NOT having it. When we opened the door to her chicken coop she took off running around the yard as happy as can be, but she would not go anywhere near the kennel. We finally made the decision to let her be, we decided to leave her during the hurricane and we prayed that she would find shelter under the house or somewhere safe. We didn't raise Coco from an egg or as a chick, we rescued her when Pelican Harbor Seabird Station had found her in Hialeah after she was attacked by a cat and needed spinal surgery. We adopted her in 2016 and she was already grown by then, but the vets at Pelican Harbor had told us that she was young, so we assume Coco is around 4-5 years old now. Anyways, we went to Dallas and my mom would check in with our neighbors, who decided to stay home, and they would send us pictures of her walking down the street after the hurricane. She looked healthier than ever, had a new set of feathers, and was doing her thing. We couldn't believe it. When we got home, we said goodbye to the small chicken coop and she has never used it since. She sleeps on top of the A/C Unit in the front of the house and would stare at herself all day in the mirror, we thought maybe she was lonely. She would lay eggs wherever she wanted all around the yard and hide them from us. But we never wanted her for eggs, we just wanted to give her a good home so we didn't mind. This February 2020, before my mom went to India for a month, Coco had gone brood. I had to take the eggs away from her so that she could go eat, she had laid 9. Coco would not budge and let me take the eggs so my mom went to her and said, "Coco, I promise you, that when I get back, we will give you your babies, okay? But you need to get up now so you can eat and walk around". Coco got up from the cardboard box she had laid the eggs in, and without a second thought, went back to her normal routine. That was the start of this journey. When my mom got back, Coco had gone broody again and I reminded my mom of the promise she made before she went on her trip. After a few hours of discussion, I finally convinced her to agree to get fertile eggs for Coco. One of my mom's friends recommended this local breeder in The Redlands where she had gotten her laying hens. Since I didn't know who else to contact, I sent her a text. Of course, she had eggs, so we decided to get half a dozen for $20. I drove out there, purchased the eggs. She showed me her chicken coop, she had Silver Polish Chickens, and those were the eggs I was purchasing. 5 Polish and 1 Americauna, she gave me an extra Americauna because it had just been laid when I arrived. So we had seven eggs in total. That night, I had switched out Coco's eggs for the fertile ones. It was a MISSION, though. Coco had laid her eggs in a secret spot: my mom's camping tent that was hanging out to dry on a large metal cage we had near the shed. I was receiving advice from the lady that sold me the eggs because I didn't know who else to ask. I got her on facetime, showed her where Coco was and told her that I need to move her to a safer place because we had a raccoon from our neighbor's yard that started to visit us and I didn't want him sniffing Coco and her eggs out. She said I could try picking the tent up where Coco was sitting and quickly move her in the backroom outside of my room where she could remain for 21 days. So, I found a plastic bin, slowly lifted Coco and her eggs up off the ground, and carefully placed her down in the plastic bin. I then gathered the rest of the tent in my hands and walked over to the outdoor room. I placed her down and actually put the large metal cage around her so that none of my other pets would go and bother her (not really for Coco's safety, but for theirs, Coco is strong and will take out one of my cat's eyes if they got too close while she's broody). From that day on, I began to track the eggs' process, and I began to research everything I could. The next day, I went to check Coco and one of the eggs had broken. In my head, some alarms went off, but I had texted the breeder and she said that it was probably a bad egg and Coco broke it for that reason. After she said that, I didn't think much else on the matter. Day 4, she pooped on one of the polish eggs and one of the Americauna blue eggs. Day 5, she abandoned the polish egg she pooped on and stopped giving it attention. We had 5 eggs left. On Day 11, I candled the eggs, I saw some things moving in some of the eggs but I didn't see any veins, which I now know is not a good sign. But since I didn't have too much knowledge on the subject yet, and I read online that if you aren't sure if the eggs are okay or not, just leave them, I decided to leave them. Day 14, one of the blue eggs exploded, rotten. The smell was so bad and Coco would not let me get close enough to remove it, so I left it, I asked the breeder if it was okay for me to leave the egg with the rest of them, and she said it was fine, that the other eggs had a protective bloom around them that would keep bacteria from getting in. Day 16, another egg exploded, this time it was a polish. I candled the eggs that night and realized that the three eggs that were left didn't have veins in them, they all had something floating around but no veins. At this point, I didn't know what to think. We contacted my grandma's friend who was a Farm Veterinarian and has been raising chickens for decades now. She said that if the eggs are bad that most likely I was sold bad eggs. I didn't want to believe that because I like to see the best in people but now I realize that she was right. All of the eggs had gone bad and I felt hopeless. I didn't want to blame anyone but myself. Another thing she had mentioned was that at night, I could've moved Coco, put her in a kennel and cleaned the whole area where she was and made her a comfortable nest to sit on. My Coco had been sitting on rotten eggs for a week because I was under the impression that it would be okay to leave her, according to what the breeder had said. That night, I moved Coco, cleaned up her area, and put her back on those three eggs that were left, they were already bad though. But I needed to think of Plan B, I didn't want to leave Coco with no chicks at the end of this. So, I looked into chick adoption, read many people's experiences, which is how I found this site. Reading what other people had gone through with their chick adoptions, really helped me in making my decision. I didn't know if Coco would accept them or even be a good mom because she had never done it before and she can be a fighter sometimes and aggressive. I went ahead and discussed this with the breeder and she said she had some polish babies that were going to hatch on April 4th, and Coco's due date for the eggs was the 5th, so it worked out perfectly. The lady was selling her polish chicks for $15 each, which I thought was expensive, especially after I bought eggs from her that didn't hatch, but anytime I tried to mention it she would get annoyed with me, leave me on read, or answer back with an offense. At this point, I kept my mouth shut because I really wanted babies for Coco, so I tried not to mention any other issue I had. All I did ask though, was that she gives me two females. Female polish chicks have prominent pom pom's on the top of their heads and can be sexed a bit easier than other breeds of chickens. She sent me photos of the two she picked out and right away I saw that one of the chicks did not have that pom pom shape and I asked her about it. She answered with, "you were fine with them yesterday. Please let me know if you do not want them so I don't keep them for shits and giggles." So, again, I shut my mouth, because I wanted those babies. I said, "no it's fine, I am still taking the babies, just know that in 6 months, if it turns out to be a rooster, I need to bring it back to you." She didn't reply. The day came to go pick up the chicks. I drove out to homestead, paid her $30 over Zelle because we didn't want there to be any human contact during the transaction, she brought the chicks out in a canister and plopped them into the small carrier we brought. She walked away fast, and I took a look at what she gave me. One female and one male, I couldn't believe it. After everything I went through, and her telling me she hatched 4 dozen chicks, she gave me a male after I told her I wouldn't be able to keep it. It's okay though, I took the babies home and got them ready to meet their new mama. If the second baby turns out to be a rooster, I have at least 5-6 months to find him a new home before he starts to crow. I went and brought the babies to Coco along with some broken eggshells because I love theatrics and wanted to really convince her that she hatched the babies herself LOL. I removed two of the eggs Coco was sitting on and quickly put the babies under her, from behind. They chirped for a little bit and soon went silent, she turned her head under her to check out what was going on a couple of times but soon went to sleep. I slept next to the cage last night and woke up at 6:30 am to be awake and see how Coco would react in the morning to her new babies. She was surprised but she picked up the eggshells in her beak a couple of times to examine them and I could hear the babies. Suddenly, a little beak appeared from under her wing. That's when I knew, she had accepted them as her own. All my fears were gone and a sense of relief swept over me, I wasn't anxious anymore, as my biggest fear was that she was going to kill them, and she didn't. Coco is now a new mom to two beautiful baby chicks, Dolly & Abba. I can't wait to learn more about the Polish breed and talk to other Polish Chicken owners, any advice that you guys have, I gladly welcome it. I'm so happy to be growing my chicken family, I'm hoping I am wrong and that Dolly is a female because I want to keep both babies obviously, but if anyone has advice on what I should do or who I could contact in case Dolly is a rooster, please message me. Killing is not an option! I want Dolly to live a good, happy life. Here are some photos of the babies and of my Coco when I had cleaned up and removed the tent and left her with a nice nest. I can post photos of the baby with their new mama later
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