- Jul 17, 2011
- 110
- 1
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Hi everyone. Today is an amazing day! Despite the fact that my fourth IVF failed this week I have had a baby miracle anyway! Four of them.
I have a little Silkie hen, Lulu. She is 18 months old. I can't keep a rooster so when she's clucky I purchase fertile eggs for her. She has had two previous clutches with the first resulting in 6 chicks and the second in only 5 chicks out of 12 eggs.
It is barely spring where I live and while the days are warm the nights have been very cold...close to freezing. But Lulu decided to go broody anyway. I purchased 12 eggs. 4 x light sussex (normal size), 4 x frizzle pekin and 4 x silkie. I realised when I got them home that I'd made a couple of mistakes. First off the light sussex are full sized eggs so bumped up the area she had to try and sit on. Also I realised too late that the bantams would hatch earlier (so I thought). SILLY ME!
During the brood time there have been nest issues for some reason. On two occasions I checked her first thing in the morning only to find half of the eggs had rolled onto the ground and were cold. Very cold. Like they'd just come out of the fridge. I put them back under her, crossed my fingers (mentally beat myself up for giving her too much to cope with) and fixed the problem so they didn't roll out anymore. She used this nest twice previously with no problem like this so I think it might actually have been because of the inconsistent sizes of the eggs (again my fault).
So I could do nothing more than check her regularly and hope for the best.
They were due to hatch between Tuesday and Thursday last week. Bantams first and then the light sussex. On Thursday, one of the light Sussex eggs started to hatch by itself. It took 24 hours and during that period there was no wobbling, no peeping and no indication anyone else was 'home' in any of the other eggs. Thursday night 2 more hatched, thankfully. So that brings us to Friday. All the bantam eggs technically should have hatched first so my heart was sinking. Lulu sat fast so I trusted her instincts. Friday daytime one frizzle pekin hatched and then during Friday night another. That brings us to 5 chicks.
On Saturday morning (yesterday) at 6am it was COLD. I got up and ran downstairs to check the overnight progress and I found Lulu off the nest encouraging her new brood of 5 to eat from the chick crumble. It was clear she was finished incubating and didn't expect the others to hatch. I checked in the nest and the eggs were freezing. But then I heard a peep and noticed a pip in one of the cold abandoned eggs. I grabbed it, ran upstairs to my sleepy husband, told him to hold out his warm hand and snuggle an egg. He's so good to crazy old me and complied. I had listened and felt all the other eggs and decided they were deceased as they were dead silent and freezing. Hubby and I snuggled in bed with our peeping egg.
At around 9am we got up and left our now energetically peeping egg in the bed surrounded with a rolled towel support and our electric blanket on 3. It's very dry here at the moment so I spritzed the egg with warm water every now and again. I went back to the pen and looked at the remaining eggs. For some reason I grabbed them and tucked them into bed with the other one even though they'd been dead cold for over 3 hours. (Lulu was well and truly done with them).
At 12noon we were rewarded with loud peeping from the bedroom. My family was visiting so 6 adults and 2 children crammed into my bedroom in time to see the most adorable yellow frizzle pekin pop up from it's shell like it was Easter. I was the most amazing sight.
After it dried off, because it had become a very very warm day I placed it under Lulu where it is now happy, fluffy and yellow with it's adopted brothers and sisters. Then I checked the eggs in the bed again...another one was peeping!!! It had come back to life. It pipped around 1pm and at 6pm Saturday was fully hatched. A gorgeous partridge silkie. As it was evening and dark, this little one went straight under mummy and is happy, fluffy and part of the new brood. That left three eggs.
I had been debating with my husband and sister all day that I wasn't giving up on the final 3 eggs. I felt there was life there. No evidence of it...until... PEEPING in one egg late last night. I slept on the floor on cushions because I gave my side of the bed up to the little eggs (crazy lady I KNOW) and was rewarded at 5am today, Sunday, with more loud peeping. We turned the light on, and a few wriggles later we had a gorgeous black silkie with fluff down it's middle toe and a beard too. We let him dry for a few hours and then later today at around 12 noon he too was happily accepted by his mummy. She didn't even question where this new chick had come from. THE STORY IS NOT FINISHED YET!
We now had two eggs left. When the last chick had hatched at 6am we saw a pip in the second last egg and soft peeps. The most amazing sound. Mind you if these little bantams should have hatched around day 20 that means by now they're 3-5 days late and have been frozen on three separate occasions and left for dead. At 4pm this afternoon, Sunday 18 September the fourth abandoned egg hatched. A lovely dark coloured frizzle pekin. He stayed in bed drying off for two hours and as it is now dark I've just placed him under Lulu with the rest of her brood to bond overnight.
The fifth egg I realised was never going to hatch as it was liquid (lucky it didn't explode in my bed). In total we have 9 chicks. One sussex didn't survive hatching and two eggs were liquid.
I realise there are those of you who are going to think I've interfered with nature and messing with natural selection but these little guys, in my mind, are a miracle. Some will wonder what crazy person puts eggs in their bed and others will see it as a story of hope and of never giving up. I prefer the last option. Maybe, if I don't give up, even after 3 miscarriages, 8 cycles of ART, and even though the doctor has told me all hope of having a baby is gone...my as yet unconceived baby will be like my chicken eggs...just a little slow to show up and maybe even not my own genetics. But worth it. Totally worth it.
Please find sequential photos below: (and yes, that is kitty guarding the babies)
I have a little Silkie hen, Lulu. She is 18 months old. I can't keep a rooster so when she's clucky I purchase fertile eggs for her. She has had two previous clutches with the first resulting in 6 chicks and the second in only 5 chicks out of 12 eggs.
It is barely spring where I live and while the days are warm the nights have been very cold...close to freezing. But Lulu decided to go broody anyway. I purchased 12 eggs. 4 x light sussex (normal size), 4 x frizzle pekin and 4 x silkie. I realised when I got them home that I'd made a couple of mistakes. First off the light sussex are full sized eggs so bumped up the area she had to try and sit on. Also I realised too late that the bantams would hatch earlier (so I thought). SILLY ME!
During the brood time there have been nest issues for some reason. On two occasions I checked her first thing in the morning only to find half of the eggs had rolled onto the ground and were cold. Very cold. Like they'd just come out of the fridge. I put them back under her, crossed my fingers (mentally beat myself up for giving her too much to cope with) and fixed the problem so they didn't roll out anymore. She used this nest twice previously with no problem like this so I think it might actually have been because of the inconsistent sizes of the eggs (again my fault).
So I could do nothing more than check her regularly and hope for the best.
They were due to hatch between Tuesday and Thursday last week. Bantams first and then the light sussex. On Thursday, one of the light Sussex eggs started to hatch by itself. It took 24 hours and during that period there was no wobbling, no peeping and no indication anyone else was 'home' in any of the other eggs. Thursday night 2 more hatched, thankfully. So that brings us to Friday. All the bantam eggs technically should have hatched first so my heart was sinking. Lulu sat fast so I trusted her instincts. Friday daytime one frizzle pekin hatched and then during Friday night another. That brings us to 5 chicks.
On Saturday morning (yesterday) at 6am it was COLD. I got up and ran downstairs to check the overnight progress and I found Lulu off the nest encouraging her new brood of 5 to eat from the chick crumble. It was clear she was finished incubating and didn't expect the others to hatch. I checked in the nest and the eggs were freezing. But then I heard a peep and noticed a pip in one of the cold abandoned eggs. I grabbed it, ran upstairs to my sleepy husband, told him to hold out his warm hand and snuggle an egg. He's so good to crazy old me and complied. I had listened and felt all the other eggs and decided they were deceased as they were dead silent and freezing. Hubby and I snuggled in bed with our peeping egg.
At around 9am we got up and left our now energetically peeping egg in the bed surrounded with a rolled towel support and our electric blanket on 3. It's very dry here at the moment so I spritzed the egg with warm water every now and again. I went back to the pen and looked at the remaining eggs. For some reason I grabbed them and tucked them into bed with the other one even though they'd been dead cold for over 3 hours. (Lulu was well and truly done with them).
At 12noon we were rewarded with loud peeping from the bedroom. My family was visiting so 6 adults and 2 children crammed into my bedroom in time to see the most adorable yellow frizzle pekin pop up from it's shell like it was Easter. I was the most amazing sight.
After it dried off, because it had become a very very warm day I placed it under Lulu where it is now happy, fluffy and yellow with it's adopted brothers and sisters. Then I checked the eggs in the bed again...another one was peeping!!! It had come back to life. It pipped around 1pm and at 6pm Saturday was fully hatched. A gorgeous partridge silkie. As it was evening and dark, this little one went straight under mummy and is happy, fluffy and part of the new brood. That left three eggs.
I had been debating with my husband and sister all day that I wasn't giving up on the final 3 eggs. I felt there was life there. No evidence of it...until... PEEPING in one egg late last night. I slept on the floor on cushions because I gave my side of the bed up to the little eggs (crazy lady I KNOW) and was rewarded at 5am today, Sunday, with more loud peeping. We turned the light on, and a few wriggles later we had a gorgeous black silkie with fluff down it's middle toe and a beard too. We let him dry for a few hours and then later today at around 12 noon he too was happily accepted by his mummy. She didn't even question where this new chick had come from. THE STORY IS NOT FINISHED YET!
We now had two eggs left. When the last chick had hatched at 6am we saw a pip in the second last egg and soft peeps. The most amazing sound. Mind you if these little bantams should have hatched around day 20 that means by now they're 3-5 days late and have been frozen on three separate occasions and left for dead. At 4pm this afternoon, Sunday 18 September the fourth abandoned egg hatched. A lovely dark coloured frizzle pekin. He stayed in bed drying off for two hours and as it is now dark I've just placed him under Lulu with the rest of her brood to bond overnight.
The fifth egg I realised was never going to hatch as it was liquid (lucky it didn't explode in my bed). In total we have 9 chicks. One sussex didn't survive hatching and two eggs were liquid.
I realise there are those of you who are going to think I've interfered with nature and messing with natural selection but these little guys, in my mind, are a miracle. Some will wonder what crazy person puts eggs in their bed and others will see it as a story of hope and of never giving up. I prefer the last option. Maybe, if I don't give up, even after 3 miscarriages, 8 cycles of ART, and even though the doctor has told me all hope of having a baby is gone...my as yet unconceived baby will be like my chicken eggs...just a little slow to show up and maybe even not my own genetics. But worth it. Totally worth it.
Please find sequential photos below: (and yes, that is kitty guarding the babies)
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