June Hatch A Long

[CluckNDoodle]

We have our first little goosie external pip!

 

[LilyD]

This seems to be one of those big personal preference things based on your broody hen as well as your flock. I've mentioned before that I have an extremely docile flock but I initially followed what people were saying online and separated one of my broody hens with her bitties, by the 3rd day she was pacing by the door wanting to leave with the rest of the flock so I opened the door and she immediately went to showing the little ones how to forage and would posture and warn the rest of the flock when they were too close to her babies, it's all a natural part of introductions (this particular hen was low on the pecking order as well). Since my initial experience, I haven't bothered with separating my broodies from the rest of the flock since I now know what to expect from them. As far as the 2" holes they will probably be small enough to squeeze through for quite some time but they will always come right back to stay with Mom. If you have a dog that would go after them or just don't want to take the chance then zip tying something with smaller holes to the bottom would be your best bet. Good luck!

I had the absolute best broody momma who would keep all the other hens away. I lost her one year and tried with another one and she let the other hens kill her babies and eat them. I came out in time to see the very end of it. She was frantic but wouldn't stop them so I always say depends on the hen. My muscovy duck momma's would kill anything that looked sideways at their babies and the hens gave her and her babies a wide birth. The Drake would also watch out and hover over mom and babies and help protect them too so never worried about duck babies only chicken.

 

[jolenesdad]

We have our first little goosie external pip!

View attachment 1811590

Yaaaaaaaaay!!!! Perfect placement too. Come on, goosie!!!!!

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Ok I am now a new chicken grandma and I have a question. My broody and her 6 chicks are in a SMALL coop inside the main chicken run where they can see the other chickens and the other chickens can see them ... and boy, have they been interested in these little cheeping babies.

How long should I keep the new family seperated?

If I were to let them out in to the run they would have access to free range as the run doors are open all day for the other girls. I would also be worried the teeny babies could walk straight through the run mesh (it's heavy duty but the gaps are about 2" or more - you can see it behind the coop in the photo).

I'm not sure that's a good idea whilst they are so young - our yard is hilly with lots of plants, rocks and shrubs where someone could get lost. I work all day and they wouldn't be supervised.

Mumma hen has been fantastic but I'm wondering if she is ok with staying in the small coop or whether she needs to get out.

What do you do with new families?

Nice set up! I’m new to this too, but I left mine in a pen for a week, then let them into a fenced area where they could see, but not touch, the rest of the flock for another week, then gave them access without wire at 2 weeks. They are now 4 weeks and aren’t yet using the main coop.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

We have our first little goosie external pip!

View attachment 1811590

Oooohhh! I’ve never seen a goose egg hatch!

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I had the absolute best broody momma who would keep all the other hens away. I lost her one year and tried with another one and she let the other hens kill her babies and eat them. I came out in time to see the very end of it. She was frantic but wouldn't stop them so I always say depends on the hen. My muscovy duck momma's would kill anything that looked sideways at their babies and the hens gave her and her babies a wide birth. The Drake would also watch out and hover over mom and babies and help protect them too so never worried about duck babies only chicken.

Oh that’s so awful! I’d have a hard time looking at my chickens the same way again after that! I’ve read too many horror stories like that to allow my rather feisty flock access to our new chicks!!! The separation for two weeks where the flock could see the chicks worked pretty well for us. When the flock had access to them at two weeks old, they would peck if the chick didn’t give them enough respect, but they didn’t go after them or try to kill them.

 

[starri33]

Surprises! That’s fun.

I ordered assorted duck eggs from Metzer, assuming they’d be labeled. Aaaaaaaand, they aren’t. They just say “mix”. I’ve never ordered from a hatchery for eggs before, but most of them I see have those fabulous little perfect stamps with the breed on the egg.

I’m hoping some here can help me ID.


@ChickenLady♡ i use the little square vegetable garden netting with zip ties for babies in a run like that, it’s fairly inexpensive. They will totally go in and out until 2-3 weeks at least.

I'm sure someone here or someone over in the duck thread will be able to tell you what they are or if they are mixed up like mine..lol.. I won't swear to it as I haven't made Momma hen mad this morning, but I believe we have chick #3 I went to check on her, make sure she had food and water and saw what looked like a broken shell, when I moved her and the two chicks yesterday, I took the broken shell out.

 

[Milkywayranchsc]

Ducks can take FOREVER to get out of their shells and get everything done. I started out last week with internally pipped babies on Tuesday when I got home from work in the evening. No idea how long they had been internally pipped and ended up having to help. I did a safety hole to help them breathe left them for 24 hours and started working on the shell the night after and then still had to wait until Friday night before some were out completely. So all told that was like 96 hours before they were finished from internal pip to wanting out lol. I actually pulled their head out on Thursday night and left their little bums in the egg shell so they could finish their yolk. When they come out they tend to have a open belly button that is kind of big on their belly. That goes away after a bit and they do fine. I try to make sure to help them drink a few times with something in the water nutridrench or save a chick right after I move them over too cause having hatching issues can be hard on them.

Thank you so much! That's exactly what I wanted to know. This baby is going on three days in his half shell. I'm hoping to be able to safely pop him out tonight if he doesn't do it on his own by then. I will have save a chick or nutradrench ready for him.

 

[LilyD]

We have our first little goosie external pip!

View attachment 1811590

Come on baby you can do it!!!

 

[Milkywayranchsc]

Thank you for that info! I have lost several ducks in prior hatches because they never got out of their shells. I blame my incubator and my user error. My mallard x welsh eggs pipped, zipped and hatched on day 25. The others lagged behind and my only surviving welshies needed help getting out. Hoping this little guy will hang in there and his slow buddies will eventually pip, zip and hatch on their own.

Last year, we hatched chicks and then ducks. I posted on it because I was so surprised how long they took to hatch! I asked for help on BYC and some said to intervene, some said leave them alone... this was my summary:

For anyone following this thread: we had five domestic mallards and 9 Welsh Harlequin in the incubator (actually 10 WH, but one is five days behind the rest because I cleaned/dipped the eggs and left one sitting in a box at room temperature for five days!). Mallards and WH were set at the same time, but mallards pipped one day before the WH, starting day 25. Both duck breeds had external pips of all eggs for 36-60 hours before hatching. Several WH had partially zipped also for 24 hr before hatch. Other than the enlargement of pip holes that I made in mallards at about 48 hr after pipping, there was no assistance with hatch. All mallards hatched on days 27-28 and all WH hatched day 28. All ducklings appear robust and healthy. In addition to learning that ducks can sit pipped for a long time and still hatch normally, I also found that percent water loss was not as important as I had expected. Mallards lost greater than desired (14%) egg weight and WH lost less, but all are healthy. I did mist or cool eggs every day after day 5 of incubation, except stopped on Day 21 for mallards. Thanks again for your help!