I did the float trick with my eggs and only one or two eggs moved....all 8 hatched and are all very much alive. Honestly I would give it a few days, chick doesn't seem like she is filling the available non-air sac space yet.
They are in the coop with my broody hen, I took them out in a bin for pictures :) they weren't very cooperative to say the least lol
Thanks everyone, guess I will have to try to be patient!
3 weeks ago my broody hen hatched out babies and I am getting antsy to figure out who is who. We can only keep (up to) 4 and I would like to rehome the ones we don't keep together. We can't keep any roosters so I will be sad if I make my decision and one turns out to be a rooster.
First up are...
...laid an egg in a few days but I figured with the heat this week that was normal. She is my favorite girl, when they arrived as chicks last February I was sure she was dead and I brought her back, hand fed her and carried her around until she was acting normal. I will be so sad if she dies :*(
I would bet they will. When my broody was hatching her eggs (once they started pipping) suddenly I had 2 hens, that had not been broody the entire 3 weeks, try stealing eggs from under my broody. I locked them away until the chicks hatched and then everyone was fine but you never know
Poor baby :( hope she heals well
We had a rough day, mama kept moving off egg #8 that pipped this morning and then I came back and saw that either mama or the babies had pecked at the egg and it had blood. I put it back for a bit and then decided to step in and did an assisted hatch, thankfully...
I have a broody hen who was sitting on 8 eggs, 7 of whom hatched yesterday/last night. The 8th pipped this morning. Mama hen moved earlier this afternoon and at that point there was a hole big enough to see the chick's beak and so I put the egg back under mama, just went out there and the chick...
She is beautiful!
I think this is just up to you, no real right or wrong. I would definitely relocate mama and baby to floor level before baby takes a tumble though.
#7 hatched last night and #8 pipped! I can hardly believe all 8 are actually going to hatch, I just hope #8 is a quick...
Chick #7 (my orpington) has pipped! Chick #6 is slowly making it's way and the other 5 are doing well, fluffed out and starting to peek out from under mama. I am tempted to get the incubator ready for egg #8, I can't imagine she will sit much longer than another day and I just don't think that...
I'd take the fake egg out personally. I don't know much as this is my first broody but I was told they know if something is wrong with an egg, maybe she mixed the one up with the fake egg trying to get it out?
So I candled the 2 with no pips so far. My only purebred orpington is alive! I saw...
My eggs are hatching! If I understand correctly chicks from a cuckoo maran hen and buff orpington rooster are sex linked so would that make this little one a girl?
Watch for updates ;) another maran egg is currently zipping :)
Also, probably not but maybe? Any way to sex newborn easter...