I have debated for a couple weeks now on whether or not to share this story. I know some will flame me all to h for doing what I did... but when it boils right down to it, I don't care whether anyone agrees or disagrees. It is what it is.
about 5 weeks ago I had a hen go broody. It wasn't her first time, and I and figured she was trustworthy enough to let her try to hatch a clutch of eggs. Well, right about on day 18 - 20 she decided she'd had enough and she abandoned ship. I kept an eye on her and the other girls for the next two days to see if anyone would step in and fill her shoes. No takers. So after the eggs had gone cold, I decided to throw them over the fence to see what my fertility rates were like (only about 30%, which was much lower than I had expected). Needless to say, I had some stinky eggs. But I had a silky egg that didn't break when I tossed it over. Or, well, it broke, but nothing stinky oozed out. After throwing the rest against the rock, my curiosity got the best of me, and I went out to check as to why the silky egg hadn't splatted like the rest. I pretty much knew the reason, but didn't want to see a poor little mostly-formed chick meeting an early demise.
But summoning my courage, I decided to crack it open to see how far along it had gotten to before being abandoned. But behold, to my utter astonishment, as I started to peel away the shell, it started to cheep! I had remembered reading here and in books that it was bad news to help a chick out of its shell, but what was I to do? Let it sit there and cook to death in its shell (it was about 100 degrees that day)? I reckoned I had no other choice but to peel it out. I knew it would die anyway. Did I think it would be easier to watch it die out of its shell than inside it? I don't know what I was thinking. But once I got it out, I realized that it was fully developed, the yolk fully absorbed.
Now I had a REAL dilemma. Should I put it out of its misery, believing as I had been told, that helping a chick out of its shell would cause it to die; OR, should I rush it in the house and put it under a heat lamp? I couldn't make up my mind. I figured it's fate was sealed, and I gave it up for dead and went on about finishing up on my chores. As I finished my labors, I couldn't stop thinking about that poor little guy. I knew it was over in the dirt suffering in the blistering hot sun, and I steeled my nerves to go put it out of its misery. But lo and behold, as I picked it up to do the deed, it sprang to life again and started cheeping up a storm!
What a fighter! At this point, I decided, for better or for worse, I was going to try to save its little life. So I rushed it in the house, fired up the incubator, and put him in. For a full 24 hours, it lay there as if it were dead. But then it started to get up and walk around. He's been going strong for two weeks now, and is every bit as lively and healthy looking as any chick I've ever seen. After having been abandoned by its mother for a whole day, thrown against a rock, ripped out of its shell, then left to the ants and the sun for 5 minutes, this chick was clearly meant to live. I've seen otherwise healthy chicks keel over and die for apparently no reason. But this little fella survived against all odds.
Amazing.
about 5 weeks ago I had a hen go broody. It wasn't her first time, and I and figured she was trustworthy enough to let her try to hatch a clutch of eggs. Well, right about on day 18 - 20 she decided she'd had enough and she abandoned ship. I kept an eye on her and the other girls for the next two days to see if anyone would step in and fill her shoes. No takers. So after the eggs had gone cold, I decided to throw them over the fence to see what my fertility rates were like (only about 30%, which was much lower than I had expected). Needless to say, I had some stinky eggs. But I had a silky egg that didn't break when I tossed it over. Or, well, it broke, but nothing stinky oozed out. After throwing the rest against the rock, my curiosity got the best of me, and I went out to check as to why the silky egg hadn't splatted like the rest. I pretty much knew the reason, but didn't want to see a poor little mostly-formed chick meeting an early demise.
But summoning my courage, I decided to crack it open to see how far along it had gotten to before being abandoned. But behold, to my utter astonishment, as I started to peel away the shell, it started to cheep! I had remembered reading here and in books that it was bad news to help a chick out of its shell, but what was I to do? Let it sit there and cook to death in its shell (it was about 100 degrees that day)? I reckoned I had no other choice but to peel it out. I knew it would die anyway. Did I think it would be easier to watch it die out of its shell than inside it? I don't know what I was thinking. But once I got it out, I realized that it was fully developed, the yolk fully absorbed.
Now I had a REAL dilemma. Should I put it out of its misery, believing as I had been told, that helping a chick out of its shell would cause it to die; OR, should I rush it in the house and put it under a heat lamp? I couldn't make up my mind. I figured it's fate was sealed, and I gave it up for dead and went on about finishing up on my chores. As I finished my labors, I couldn't stop thinking about that poor little guy. I knew it was over in the dirt suffering in the blistering hot sun, and I steeled my nerves to go put it out of its misery. But lo and behold, as I picked it up to do the deed, it sprang to life again and started cheeping up a storm!
What a fighter! At this point, I decided, for better or for worse, I was going to try to save its little life. So I rushed it in the house, fired up the incubator, and put him in. For a full 24 hours, it lay there as if it were dead. But then it started to get up and walk around. He's been going strong for two weeks now, and is every bit as lively and healthy looking as any chick I've ever seen. After having been abandoned by its mother for a whole day, thrown against a rock, ripped out of its shell, then left to the ants and the sun for 5 minutes, this chick was clearly meant to live. I've seen otherwise healthy chicks keel over and die for apparently no reason. But this little fella survived against all odds.
Amazing.
