Riggott07
In the Brooder
- Jul 8, 2017
- 18
- 18
- 34
Hey all! Wanted to tell my story here. It's been super stressful the past week. I had a bantam cochin/silkie roo with my flock of 2 golden comets, 1 black star, and 1 olive egger hens.
Anyway, my black star went broody while we were gone for a week (which is rare) and she's been incubating fertile eggs. She was very successful in hatching her first batch of eggs 1 1/2 years ago. This is her second time. But she's not a good mother so after they hatch I have to take them to the brooder. I let her continue to incubate them. I'm curious what a golden comet/cochin/silkie/bantam cross would look like.
Been candling the eggs daily. Yesterday was hatch day for 3 of the eggs. One pipped the other day and I left it alone under momma all night. When I checked in the morning, she squashed it!!! It suffocated and died. She broke another egg with her foot. That egg was in week 2 of development. Later that day, another chick was due to hatch soon and she killed that one too!!
Yesterday evening I knew that a third chick was due to hatch any moment. When I checked the eggs, it had already externally pipped. I was too afraid to let this one be alone with mom so I took it and set it in the brooder I had already set up. I have no backup incubator. Since I had no way to monitor humidity, I had to practically force it to hatch early.
It was already pipped but not zipped yet. I peeled the shell where the air cell was and slowly peeled the membrane away. I know if there was heavy bleeding then should wait. But it wasn't bleeding so I continued to peel slowly.
I peeled the membrane away until I was able to get it's head and wings out. I peeled very slowly, like every 20 minutes peeling a little at a time. It took about an hour. No further peeling from here. I gently took a peek inside and noticed it still needed a little time to absorb the rest of the yolk and blood.
I occasionally covered the egg with damp tissue paper to keep the membranes moist. Continued monitoring the temp.
I left it like this to push it's own way out. It stayed this way for another two-three hours. I stood by constantly monitoring the temperature.
At 1am it made loud chirping and lots of wiggling and kicked it's way out. Yay! I continued to monitor it for another hour.
Drying off.
At 7am it was attempting to walk and look around, chirping. I gave it water with a Q-tip. It seems to be doing well. So happy it survived!
Anyway, my black star went broody while we were gone for a week (which is rare) and she's been incubating fertile eggs. She was very successful in hatching her first batch of eggs 1 1/2 years ago. This is her second time. But she's not a good mother so after they hatch I have to take them to the brooder. I let her continue to incubate them. I'm curious what a golden comet/cochin/silkie/bantam cross would look like.
Been candling the eggs daily. Yesterday was hatch day for 3 of the eggs. One pipped the other day and I left it alone under momma all night. When I checked in the morning, she squashed it!!! It suffocated and died. She broke another egg with her foot. That egg was in week 2 of development. Later that day, another chick was due to hatch soon and she killed that one too!!
Yesterday evening I knew that a third chick was due to hatch any moment. When I checked the eggs, it had already externally pipped. I was too afraid to let this one be alone with mom so I took it and set it in the brooder I had already set up. I have no backup incubator. Since I had no way to monitor humidity, I had to practically force it to hatch early.
It was already pipped but not zipped yet. I peeled the shell where the air cell was and slowly peeled the membrane away. I know if there was heavy bleeding then should wait. But it wasn't bleeding so I continued to peel slowly.
I peeled the membrane away until I was able to get it's head and wings out. I peeled very slowly, like every 20 minutes peeling a little at a time. It took about an hour. No further peeling from here. I gently took a peek inside and noticed it still needed a little time to absorb the rest of the yolk and blood.
I occasionally covered the egg with damp tissue paper to keep the membranes moist. Continued monitoring the temp.
I left it like this to push it's own way out. It stayed this way for another two-three hours. I stood by constantly monitoring the temperature.
At 1am it made loud chirping and lots of wiggling and kicked it's way out. Yay! I continued to monitor it for another hour.
Drying off.
At 7am it was attempting to walk and look around, chirping. I gave it water with a Q-tip. It seems to be doing well. So happy it survived!
Attachments
-
19873920_10211969812152397_1910043165_n.jpg -
19807732_10211969811432379_1692503810_o.jpg -
19829899_10211969811672385_1359765709_o.jpg -
19866308_10211969810952367_678862222_n.jpg -
19894442_10211969809512331_363900335_n.jpg -
19883671_10211969808832314_137977959_n.jpg -
19866270_10211969808112296_2001451618_n.jpg
to this
Good job, sounds like a normal day with chickens! Enjoy that little fluffy girl. I have a hen who I dont let sit or raise babies either...not a nice momma.
