Well, this is sort of a good news - iffy news post. I came home to see two new chicks with the Silkie family, which I initially thought were a pair of Cream Legbars. The female was tiny and lethargic, the male was a bit livelier but seemed to be struggling a bit, so I set up a small brooder and added vitamins to the water in there, and took them out of the pen and put them in the brooder, where I got a better look at them. The chick with the spot on its head isn't a CL ... it's an Abe baby!!!
Then a bit later when I went to check on them (both perked up) I heard new-hatchling cheeping in the pen, and there was an even tinier CL chick, too young to be out from under Mom, in the middle of the pen among the hens, none of whom seemed concerned enough for my comfort, so I took that one out as well. It also appears to be a pullet, but very, very tiny and questionable closure at the umbilicus. The CL eggs should not have hatched at all, the Post Office had them from Wednesday through Monday, and I did not think ANY would hatch. Thank goodness for broodies
I am not convinced the last to hatch (tonight) will survive, but will do my best.
I will decide in the morning whether to give any or all of them back to the hens. The first two, as I said, seemed to have perked up with a few beak dips in the vitamin water, the last was really too new to even do that, it was still doing the belly crawl, so I'll try dipping its beak in the morning prior to deciding where it will spend the day.
The hen on the remaining eggs is sitting tight, so I am hoping there will be at least a few more chicks hatching. I sold all the Silkie chicks in the pen this morning, so the only other youngsters in there are the two SLW hatched from Greathorse's eggs - I had considered keeping a couple of the Silkie chicks, but decided it was going to be better for any of these eggs that hatch to decrease the population. Once this current clutch of eggs hatches or doesn't, the hens will raise whatever chicks they have and then hopefully resume laying. I strongly prefer having the hens raise the chicks, just had the sense the three I saw tonight needed help to survive. I may have jumped the gun, they might have been fine without intervention, but I was disinclined to take chances with these precious babies. It will be all I can do not to go out every hour with a flashlight and check on them overnight
So, Wendell, you're a Grampa again
Will try to get pics tomorrow, time permitting.
