Bleeding Egg

[Maikan]

This is Wish! She's a little blue silkie chick who is surprisingly very active and very talkative. After taking a rest overnight, she has recovered from the long and stressful hatch. I have her in the incubator now, but will probably move her to the broody with the other chicks soon. Sadly, only 4 have hatched from my fifteen eggs that I set and one died from what looks like being stepped on by the broody. Should I be concerned for my other chicks? I have another broody hen I could move them to that is much older and more experienced, but don't want to cause them any stress. Here's little Wish:



This is her sibling who hatched under my broody:

Great to see that Wish is doing so well, its great to see her after reading about her traumatic start in life. Her sibling is also very cute.

Its a hard call re your Broody, if she's looking after them now it may well be worth leaving her with them. But keep the other broody sitting for a few days that way if need be and the broody who has the chick's isn't proving to be a good mum you have the other broody you can try and move them to.

That's how I would do it any way, I have used this method before with a young broody of mine who could be a bit skittish and who ended up having a go at the chicks. The 2nd hen bought off the chicks and raised them as her own successfully.

 

[Zgm12]

Great to see that Wish is doing so well, its great to see her after reading about her traumatic start in life.  Her sibling is also very cute.

Its a hard call re your Broody, if she's looking after them now it may well be worth leaving her with them. But keep the other broody sitting for a few days that way if need be and the broody who has the chick's isn't proving to be a good mum you have the other broody you can try and move them to.

That's how I would do it any way, I have used this method before with a young broody of mine who could be a bit skittish and who ended up having a go at the chicks. The 2nd hen bought off the chicks and raised them as her own successfully.

Thanks, last time this hen, Gem, raised chicks it was with another hen and eventually that hen took over. Gem is less than 2 years old and isn't an experienced broody hen. She seems to be more interested in the eggs then the chicks. It seems like every time I go out to see them at least one of the chicks is out of the nest peeping while she's just sitting on the eggs. I'll give it a few days and see. Wish would probably do best with her siblings, right?

 

[Maikan]

If she's still more interested in the eggs then yeah I'd try putting the chicks with the other hen, I wasn't aware she'd done this before. Yes Wish would likely do better with her siblings if she's strong enough to go with them, is she with the 2nd chick you photoed? Its often better adding 2 together to any group or new situation. Has the other hen adopted chicks for you before?

If I adopt chicks to a broody I do it in the evening when the hen's settled in for the night. I also leave an egg or 2 under here so that she thinks its a normal hatch and then remove the eggs over the next day or so once she's bonded with the chicks. This method seems to work best for me at any rate. Good luck with what ever you decide to do.

 

[Zgm12]

Thanks, I will do that. I also candled the eggs and found that 4 were liquidy with a floating air bubble and the others were perfect looking. A couple had oddly shaped air sacs, but looked normal otherwise. I put the good ones back under the hen. I have heard there's something called a water candling that it will help tell if they're alive, and I may try that, too.

 

[Hholly]

Cute chickies y'all! Good job!

 

[WVduckchick]

Water candling is a check to see if they are still alive. If you don't have any cracks or pips, you can float the egg in water (98-100 degrees) and within a few seconds, you should see it wiggle on its own if its alive. If it sinks, its usually a goner. If it floats, but doesn't wiggle, it could still be alive, just resting. I have heard of people opening after no wiggle to find one alive. So the only definite is, if it wiggles, its alive.

 

[Zgm12]

Water candling is a check to see if they are still alive. If you don't have any cracks or pips, you can float the egg in water (98-100 degrees) and within a few seconds, you should see it wiggle on its own if its alive. If it sinks, its usually a goner. If it floats, but doesn't wiggle, it could still be alive, just resting. I have heard of people opening after no wiggle to find one alive. So the only definite is, if it wiggles, its alive.

If it's alive I should just put back in the incubator, right?

 

[FridayYet]

Yup. I had one wait over a minute to move, but hatched just fine.

 

[Maikan]

My last CLB chicks finally outta its shell, she n its def a she this time had an extremely thick membrane again, so had to be assisted. She's now sleeping on some dry paper towel in the bator. She's weak but alive so fingers crossed she'll be ok.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

My last CLB chicks finally outta its shell, she n its def a she this time had an extremely thick membrane again, so had to be assisted. She's now sleeping on some dry paper towel in the bator. She's weak but alive so fingers crossed she'll be ok.