Hello everyone. Apologies in advance as this will be both a weird question and introduction. And my stupidity will make you experienced chicken owners cringe.
I live in a rural part of Turkey where people don't take the best care of their chickens. It's not unusual to see half-stray chickens roaming around, surviving on what they can forage, and nesting in bushes and branches. One such outcast hen had made my neglected backyard her home and laid eggs in my "shed". I hesitate to call it a shed, because it's just a tin roof over a brick wall. Open to the elements on 3 sides and not insulated. No other hens or roosters enter my yard other than this one hen. I asked around and no one knows whose chicken this is. I really had not expected any of these eggs to be fertilized, let alone hatch. But she stubbornly sat on them and wouldn't get up. So I'd bring out food and water to her, so she wouldn't starve herself. Imagine my surprise 3 days ago when I go out to give her some food and I'm met with a whole flock of chicks!
12 hatched out of 15 eggs. But as she was busy being a single mother of 12 chicks, she had no time to sit on those 3 eggs anymore. I quickly built her a little shelter inside that "shed", moved the empty eggshells to the side, and I put her 3 unhatched eggs inside. Hoping they would at least sleep there at night, it gets chilly at night. (40-50 fahrenheit, too cold for new chicks I assume)
She completely ignored this mini shelter and slept in the corner of the bricks there. Leaving the eggs completely unattended for about 24 hours. Yesterday I decided to take the eggs inside to check if they were alive. And I heard a feint chirp as I moved one. Yep, this one was definitely alive, chirping and moving, probably cold and 3 days late to hatch. I made a panic decision to help it out of the egg. This was a big mistake. I was about halfway done taking the shell off, and a droplet of blood came out of the white membrane inside. I immediately stopped. I must've snipped it with a sharp shell piece in my panic. Luckily the blood stopped after one droplet.
I brought the eggs inside and jury-rigged a makeshift incubator out of whatever I had. Metal bowl over the eggs with a damp cloth inside to keep the humidity up. And I put this bowl next to an electric radiator. I'm able to keep it 85-95 fahrenheit inside the bowl with 70-80% humidity.
It's now been over 3 days since the siblings hatched, and over 24 hours since I brought the eggs inside. I've just been trying to keep the temperature and humidity steady. It's tricky to keep an exact temperature with this terrible setup. Poor chick is still alive. It moves around and chirps. I don't know what to do. Just keep waiting? This last picture is from 5 minutes ago. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I live in a rural part of Turkey where people don't take the best care of their chickens. It's not unusual to see half-stray chickens roaming around, surviving on what they can forage, and nesting in bushes and branches. One such outcast hen had made my neglected backyard her home and laid eggs in my "shed". I hesitate to call it a shed, because it's just a tin roof over a brick wall. Open to the elements on 3 sides and not insulated. No other hens or roosters enter my yard other than this one hen. I asked around and no one knows whose chicken this is. I really had not expected any of these eggs to be fertilized, let alone hatch. But she stubbornly sat on them and wouldn't get up. So I'd bring out food and water to her, so she wouldn't starve herself. Imagine my surprise 3 days ago when I go out to give her some food and I'm met with a whole flock of chicks!
12 hatched out of 15 eggs. But as she was busy being a single mother of 12 chicks, she had no time to sit on those 3 eggs anymore. I quickly built her a little shelter inside that "shed", moved the empty eggshells to the side, and I put her 3 unhatched eggs inside. Hoping they would at least sleep there at night, it gets chilly at night. (40-50 fahrenheit, too cold for new chicks I assume)
She completely ignored this mini shelter and slept in the corner of the bricks there. Leaving the eggs completely unattended for about 24 hours. Yesterday I decided to take the eggs inside to check if they were alive. And I heard a feint chirp as I moved one. Yep, this one was definitely alive, chirping and moving, probably cold and 3 days late to hatch. I made a panic decision to help it out of the egg. This was a big mistake. I was about halfway done taking the shell off, and a droplet of blood came out of the white membrane inside. I immediately stopped. I must've snipped it with a sharp shell piece in my panic. Luckily the blood stopped after one droplet.
I brought the eggs inside and jury-rigged a makeshift incubator out of whatever I had. Metal bowl over the eggs with a damp cloth inside to keep the humidity up. And I put this bowl next to an electric radiator. I'm able to keep it 85-95 fahrenheit inside the bowl with 70-80% humidity.
It's now been over 3 days since the siblings hatched, and over 24 hours since I brought the eggs inside. I've just been trying to keep the temperature and humidity steady. It's tricky to keep an exact temperature with this terrible setup. Poor chick is still alive. It moves around and chirps. I don't know what to do. Just keep waiting? This last picture is from 5 minutes ago. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
