South Carolina

[gvilledh]

Now, I am going to be glued to this thread, waiting to see what happens! We have a broody hen and the eggs should hatch between Friday and Monday next week (they are some of Amy's Marans). I have a feeling Lou Ann will wear the grass out between henhouse and the coop checking to see if anything has happened. The downside with a broody is they aren't exactly transparent!
We are wondering what she is going to do to the one hen that keeps insisting on getting in the box with her to lay an egg once those babies start hatching. Will be interesting to see if she tolerates her then or not.
If you only get one to hatch, are you going to go look for it a playmate?

 

[Avonshire]

I definitely think you need to get it a play mate--I am a firm believer in this! lol! With my vast(a little more than a month) experience!

Not to mention two or three babies are cuter than one! You know my good pip took about 5-6 hours to come out. Then my second pip took more than 24 hours and I finally helped it zip which was disastrous for me. So I guess I am just saying that it might be a while but at the same time I keep hitting my refresh button hoping to hear progress!

 

[momd29]

So far we're still just watching the one pipped baby. It seems really strong right now. It's been wiggling and sticking it's beak through the little pip since it started. I'm praying that at least one more pips maybe so it won't be by itself. I've read they don't go well by themselves. but I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens.. Will update more soon

 

[Patsy29332]

So far we're still just watching the one pipped baby. It seems really strong right now. It's been wiggling and sticking it's beak through the little pip since it started. I'm praying that at least one more pips maybe so it won't be by itself. I've read they don't go well by themselves. but I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens.. Will update more soon

Come on little chickie...you can do it!!!

 

[momd29]

Update:: Almost six hours after our first pip.. still waiting on the little one to fully hatch. It's still wiggling pretty good, chirping, and sticking it's little beak through the hole...

 

[Avonshire]

Has it zipped around the shell any yet? It is so hard to just watch all that hard work.

 

[KrisH]

YEah, Dee, I sure hope it makes it out and you get to see it hatch. I too have eggs if you want to try another hatch. I also will say it is best if you get more chicks and not raise a spoiled loner chick. We still havent found a way to intergrate our solo hatch chick. It is 9 weeks old and outside all alone. It sure does like us. We thought it was a pullet, but we are now sure it is a roo. Of course Robert still says its a pullet, wishful thinking.

Lauren what cuties.

 

[Joycats]

Joycat. It has been a long time since I saw that. Last time I saw it, it was caused by low roosting places ( less then 4 feet high ) Where the chicken would be lazy and just jump off the roost instead of flying off to break the fall. Jumping off and landing on rocky or hard ground can cause bone spurs to cause the swelling and possible infections. but the swelling can be with no infections at all and just inflamation.coup her with ground or cage nesting for a few weeks and see if it goes down. I hate to say this but you may be better off in all aspects to replace the hen instead of her living a life of misery if the foot was broken and will never heal back up right.

Hmmmm.....so you think it's probably an injury, that makes more sense to me than anything else I've been told. She's sleeping on floor of the coop and just wanders as far as the drinker and feeder and that's it. I did change the food so was hoping if it was gout(which someone else thought it might be) that might make a difference. She might be a little better this week. We're getting ready to re-do the roosts in that coop. I'll keep that info in mind. Thanks for the input.

 

[momd29]

Still no zips.. It's killing me just watching it trying to hatch.. I think I'm going to have to pry myself away from batorvision for awhile and go for a swim with the kids in the pool.. Poor little guy/gal is working hard to get out of his shell..Anyways I'll update more when I get back in or see more action.. Looks like it may be a long night (but well worth it in the end)..

 

[momd29]

Went to go walk away from the bator and saw our little guy peeked a piece of the shell away.. So I had to share the picture that I snapped.. Will update more when I get back from swimming in the pool with the kids..