Chicken Mum Abi's Flock Journey

[ChickenMumAbi]

Hi All!

I have 2 small flocks at the moment (well older chickens and chicks only 24 hours old!) I have 5 chickens which are now 8 weeks old (now known as the 'old hats') and 5 baby chicks (which I will refer to as the 'babies') which finishing hatching no less than 24 hours ago.

Both my old hats and babies were mail order eggs (from a local farm about 40 miles away), I incubated them using the Brinsea Maxi ii Advance - and on both times, lost a egg at around day 18, meaning I ended up with 5 eggs on both occasions on course for hatching.

I am based in South West UK, and first time chicken mum, and with the current lockdown measures in the UK for Avian Flu, its been a tricky time! I hope you enjoy joining me on my journey.

 

[ChickenMumAbi]

So, our first batch of eggs were now on day 20 in the incubator, the brooder was ready, the heat source plugged in and we waited patiently for the magic to happen.

and alas:

an egg was pipping!! At this stage we could hear tiny cheeps from inside the eggs, and we waited and waited. The excitement was very real, it was like magic!

And then....

HELLO LITTLE ONE! And thus the 'Old Hats' were hatching! All 5 finished hatching on the 18th November 2021, the last one was struggling after almost 24 hours since pipping and not getting anywhere, so in my panic decided I would assist with removing a small amount of shell to give her a head start. after a few tense hours of constantly worrying the humidity levels were too low and frantically checking for signs of shrink wrapping, the last chick finally made it out unassisted!

They soon settled into the brooder, and loving their little mirror:

The little brown one is the one that needed slight assistance during the hatch.

Here they are at a month old:

About 5 weeks old when moving out to the garage:

And today, at 8 weeks old:

I'm hearing a pathetic little strangly 'cuckoo' coming from someone.... I have a sneaking suspicion its the one with bright red comb - time will tell!

We have started introducing treats now they have moved onto growers pellets, and boy, do they love their dried worms!

 

[KingD]

So, our first batch of eggs were now on day 20 in the incubator, the brooder was ready, the heat source plugged in and we waited patiently for the magic to happen.

and alas:

View attachment 2954792

an egg was pipping!! At this stage we could hear tiny cheeps from inside the eggs, and we waited and waited. The excitement was very real, it was like magic!

And then....

View attachment 2954795

HELLO LITTLE ONE! And thus the 'Old Hats' were hatching! All 5 finished hatching on the 18th November 2021, the last one was struggling after almost 24 hours since pipping and not getting anywhere, so in my panic decided I would assist with removing a small amount of shell to give her a head start. after a few tense hours of constantly worrying the humidity levels were too low and frantically checking for signs of shrink wrapping, the last chick finally made it out unassisted!

View attachment 2954829

They soon settled into the brooder, and loving their little mirror:

View attachment 2954836

The little brown one is the one that needed slight assistance during the hatch.

View attachment 2954837

Here they are at a month old:

View attachment 2954838

About 5 weeks old when moving out to the garage:

View attachment 2954839

And today, at 8 weeks old:

View attachment 2954841

I'm hearing a pathetic little strangly 'cuckoo' coming from someone.... I have a sneaking suspicion its the one with bright red comb - time will tell!

We have started introducing treats now they have moved onto growers pellets, and boy, do they love their dried worms!

Cute! What breed are they? Or do you not know?

I absolutely love hatching.

 

[ChickenMumAbi]

Now that I have given some background on the 'old hats', it's time to update on the 'babies' journey!

After locking down the ends at the end of day 18, I was quite surprised to see some pipping already the following morning! Well, i was even more surprised to see this little monkey staring back at me a few hours later, hatching on day 19!

Over the next 24 hours, we had 3 more hatch without issue.

Here is a little time-laspe of chick number 2 making their way out!

https://imgur.com/a/Fwimw7X

There remained just one egg left to hatch, I noticed that they had pipped in the wrong place and was trying to get out the tip of the pointy end. I don't have much experience with hatching, but all 9 other chicks have pipped around the upper section of the round end, and the fact that i left them be for over 20 hours chipping away at the same spot, thought i might need to intervene.

I removed all of the other (now dry) chicks from the bator, so I could focus on this potentially 'breech' hatchling.

Sure enough, I decided that as they had now been pipping and trying to unzip for well over 24 hours, and they were just banging the same spot - I needed to help.

Armed with lots of wet napkins, tweezers and damp cotton buds, i at this point started to removed the shell layer only, but only a thin strip to give them so leverage to push their way out.

As soon as I was happy that they could breathe ok, as their beak was now poking out, and that they were nice and damp so not to dry out, I decided to just watch and wait it out. Sure enough, 6 hours later i was greeted by a damp little chick looking back at me!

I then noticed with this little chap, that they had what looked like a prolapse/hernia sticking out from their bottom:

After some research (as it was now evening and the vets were closed) I was hoping that this was just the yolk sac, and that abit of TLC and seperation would resolve.

I kept this guy in the bator until the following morning, at this point the pink fleshy bit had all but disappeared, i was elated! And he was popped into the brooder with the others!

Here are some photos taken today, less than 24 hours old!

They are being quite camera shy!

 

[ChickenMumAbi]

Cute! What breed are they? Or do you not know?

I absolutely love hatching.

No idea yet! now my older ones are starting to mature, I am hoping that we can start identifying them soon enough

 

[KingD]

No idea yet! now my older ones are starting to mature, I am hoping that we can start identifying them soon enough

Oh I see, interesting! It's always fun when you don't know. I had a couple like that recently and they both turned out to be Marans which is cool. Best of luck

 

[ChickenMumAbi]

Oh I see, interesting! It's always fun when you don't know. I had a couple like that recently and they both turned out to be Marans which is cool. Best of luck

Thank you!

 

[Silkie Princess]

Following!

 

[ChickenMumAbi]

This mornings update on the babies:

Observed drinking and eating, bedding changed and ready for another busy day of napping and cheeping!

Old Hats currently enjoying alittle treat of corn to get them going

 

[ChickenMumAbi]

We now have wing feathers starting to come through!

Babies are getting very inquisitive, they keep jumping up on their Ecoglow bed and jumping off!

The little fully black one seems to have a lump on their shoulder, i think it might be from playing too rough. Will keep an eye on it, eating and drinking as normal - and creating trouble. Just witnessed them pecking another chick right in the peeper...ouch!