Bookworm0124
Songster
Super late but I'm just seeing your tag lol. He ended up not making it. I kept a pair from that hatching and they're pretty awesome. It's pretty cool here at night already (high 40's low 50's) so they're still in the garage brooder. Maybe another week or so I'll introduce them to the grow out pen. Thinking of maybe letting them out during the days.I was coming here, too, hoping for a good update from @Bookworm0124!
I lost one of mama's babies last night. :-( Poor thing.
Always learning.
I think the best option lies somewhere in the middle of the general advice, as even broody hens aren't totally set it and forget it. I totally understand breeders not wanting to "help" chicks, but, Im really not convinced AT ALL that helping a chick in the first few minutes or days of life means you're doomed to repeat the same cycle even if you breed that chick. There are SO MANY Issues caused by incubation and human interaction to incubation. I think I probably should have treated these eggs as shipped eggs under the broody. Especially when in the end, I got 3/11. :-\ My broody hatch from local eggs, if I count the loss today (which I think 36 hours after hatch should be counted as a loss), is my worst hatch so far!
There was one egg that had zipped and was stuck in a zip for 8+ hours. I popped the top off, and put it back under mom. I really probably should have taken it into the incubator and ensured it got Nutri drench and food. It clearly had been in the shell too long after absorbing the yolk, it didn't want to lift its head out when I removed the top of the shell that was zipped all the way around. I had two black chicks hatch, and that was one of them, and it was a black chick that died, so I am assuming that was it.
NEXT TIME, especially since I have SUCH docile birds, I'll plan on monitoring just a bit more. I should have candled for REAL all along the way to remove the exploders. What an elementary mistake there. I just occasionally picked up one of the eggs and put my phone light on it and said, ooooh, air cell.... good. Plus, I should have removed this zipping chick after a couple of hours. I just was thinking "Broody mom, don't do ANYTHING."
As an aside, Im really not at all interested in breeding directly to the SOP and showing, I'm mostly interested in preserving some breeds and breeding for local climate vigor and hopefully working my own line towards more utility. You can bet your butt that I am going to absolutely try and breed "assisted" chicks, monitor their hatches, and debunk this theory that you shouldn't assist chicks.
!!! 
And you’re kid’s pretty cute too!!!
I feel like I can breathe again!
