bluer78
Songster
Sorry ahead of time if its kind of a long story... I'm always about the details and can go on and on sometimes.. I attached a picture of Smokey and her baby for payment!
One of my girls, Smokey went broody, and I gave her 9 eggs to sit on. 2 were not fertilized, and 2 ended up being quitters that I pulled at 2 weeks.. Friday night I saw a little blood on her chest and a partly cracked egg.. that one did not survive the hatch... but I did wake up yesterday morning to 1 baby
last night when I went to bed, there was still just the one baby but was able to see one of the remaining 3 had a pip! This morningi woke up to just the one baby still, and a hunk of fluff that was not moving tucked slightly under her still.. when she finally gave up on the nest and took her baby on their first adventure, I realized there were 2 little fluffs not moving... and the last egg did not hatch, not even a pip...
So, I then went and grabbed 4 babies from tsc, I explained the situation and had him pick 4 that were the smallest and least feathered out to help blend in...
Smokey and her new baby were right outside the door of the coop, opposite where the nesting box is. So, I snuck by her and just went and put them in the box, thinking maybe she would hear them and go back like, hey! they hatched! That probably wasn't the right way to do that... she didn't notice for a while. But eventually when she went back in and saw them, she started freaking out and pecking and fluffing up. The poor babies. So, after I realized she wasn't calming down, rather getting more and more irritated, I scooped all the little ones, except for hers, up and brought them to safety... 2 of the others were even black with a little white just like the one she hatched, and she knew exactly which ones to chase and peck at!
So in the end here, I have a few questions...
Is it still possible to integrate them with her? Like maybe tonight at dark?
Is it possible she killed the other 2 because she only wanted the 1 anyway? She seems very happy and content with her 1 baby right now.
Will she be ok with just 1, or rather will the 1 be ok by itself? She seems like a pretty bossy mom. Lol. Smokey is a very new first time mom at 10 months old.
Should I just take that one and put it with the other new babies, and set Smokey back with the flock? I feel kinda bad taking her baby away if everything is fine...
One of my girls, Smokey went broody, and I gave her 9 eggs to sit on. 2 were not fertilized, and 2 ended up being quitters that I pulled at 2 weeks.. Friday night I saw a little blood on her chest and a partly cracked egg.. that one did not survive the hatch... but I did wake up yesterday morning to 1 baby
last night when I went to bed, there was still just the one baby but was able to see one of the remaining 3 had a pip! This morningi woke up to just the one baby still, and a hunk of fluff that was not moving tucked slightly under her still.. when she finally gave up on the nest and took her baby on their first adventure, I realized there were 2 little fluffs not moving... and the last egg did not hatch, not even a pip...So, I then went and grabbed 4 babies from tsc, I explained the situation and had him pick 4 that were the smallest and least feathered out to help blend in...
Smokey and her new baby were right outside the door of the coop, opposite where the nesting box is. So, I snuck by her and just went and put them in the box, thinking maybe she would hear them and go back like, hey! they hatched! That probably wasn't the right way to do that... she didn't notice for a while. But eventually when she went back in and saw them, she started freaking out and pecking and fluffing up. The poor babies. So, after I realized she wasn't calming down, rather getting more and more irritated, I scooped all the little ones, except for hers, up and brought them to safety... 2 of the others were even black with a little white just like the one she hatched, and she knew exactly which ones to chase and peck at!
So in the end here, I have a few questions...
Is it still possible to integrate them with her? Like maybe tonight at dark?
Is it possible she killed the other 2 because she only wanted the 1 anyway? She seems very happy and content with her 1 baby right now.
Will she be ok with just 1, or rather will the 1 be ok by itself? She seems like a pretty bossy mom. Lol. Smokey is a very new first time mom at 10 months old.
Should I just take that one and put it with the other new babies, and set Smokey back with the flock? I feel kinda bad taking her baby away if everything is fine...
