Okay...I would like to share my crazy hatching story and would desperately like to know if anyone has had this same experience....this story is rather long but it's worth reading
Okay lets start with day one....Tuesday April 13..
My bantam started sitting and had 4 eggs. I was happy and thought I would soon have some new baby chicks running around. She was comfortably seated in the nest box in the back of the coop that she shares with 2 other bantam hens and a red pyle rooster.
Wednesday April 14....
Another of the hens decided she would start sitting as well...she laid an egg in the same nest box as the first hen so they cozied up together in the same box. So far we have 5 eggs...4 under the first and 1 under the second.
So about a week or so passed and I caught one of the hens off the nest and saw quite a few more eggs....so what they were doing were taking the third hens eggs and adding to their clutch.
Okay...skip to day 21....nothing has hatched yet so I start to wonder but I give them a few more days.
Day 23....
I come home from work and find a little chick laying face down in the run outside of the coop, with it's head torn open and bleeding. I take it out and find out that it's still alive, but barely....so I bring it inside and put it under a heat lamp.
Day 24...
2 more chicks have hatched....one has also had it's head pecked open but not quite as bad as the first. The other baby is in good shape but neither of the mothers will accept the babys. So I bring them inside and add them under the heat lamp.
Day 25....
The first chick that hatched, the one I found in the run with the bloody head, dies. The other 2 are doing well.
So I decided that I should check these hens and their eggs out. I discover that there are 16 eggs between the 2 now. So I don't know what to do since they are not taking care of their newborns and somehow the babies are getting their heads injured.
Now let skip to this past Saturday, May 8....
10:30 am we find a chick that has just emerged from the shell, soaking wet, laying in the middle of the coop.....with the entire top of it's head picked open and it's skull showing. We bring it inside, warm it up, and it's doing great...
Okay...so today..May 10...
I come home from work and find nothing...until about 5:45 I hear peeping and run outside to find ANOTHER newly hatched, soaking wet baby laying in the middle of the coop with a fresh wound in the same spot on it's head...so it's now inside and doing great.
Now here is my dilemma...I candled the eggs Sunday and found 3 that were ready to hatch any minute (one of which hatched today), 3 that have live embryos (maybe on day 10 or 12)
But....here's where it gets even better....remember the third hen that I told you about that lives in the same coop but wasn't broody? Well yesterday she decided she would also cram herself in the nest with the other 2 hens.
So here's what I currently have....
2 one week old chicks....1 two day old chick.....1 4 hour old chick....and 3 broody hens in the same nest with 6 eggs of varying stages of development.
I have no clue what to do
Each time one begins to hatch...they are cast out of the nest and pecked almost to death.
HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay lets start with day one....Tuesday April 13..
My bantam started sitting and had 4 eggs. I was happy and thought I would soon have some new baby chicks running around. She was comfortably seated in the nest box in the back of the coop that she shares with 2 other bantam hens and a red pyle rooster.
Wednesday April 14....
Another of the hens decided she would start sitting as well...she laid an egg in the same nest box as the first hen so they cozied up together in the same box. So far we have 5 eggs...4 under the first and 1 under the second.
So about a week or so passed and I caught one of the hens off the nest and saw quite a few more eggs....so what they were doing were taking the third hens eggs and adding to their clutch.
Okay...skip to day 21....nothing has hatched yet so I start to wonder but I give them a few more days.
Day 23....
I come home from work and find a little chick laying face down in the run outside of the coop, with it's head torn open and bleeding. I take it out and find out that it's still alive, but barely....so I bring it inside and put it under a heat lamp.
Day 24...
2 more chicks have hatched....one has also had it's head pecked open but not quite as bad as the first. The other baby is in good shape but neither of the mothers will accept the babys. So I bring them inside and add them under the heat lamp.
Day 25....
The first chick that hatched, the one I found in the run with the bloody head, dies. The other 2 are doing well.
So I decided that I should check these hens and their eggs out. I discover that there are 16 eggs between the 2 now. So I don't know what to do since they are not taking care of their newborns and somehow the babies are getting their heads injured.
Now let skip to this past Saturday, May 8....
10:30 am we find a chick that has just emerged from the shell, soaking wet, laying in the middle of the coop.....with the entire top of it's head picked open and it's skull showing. We bring it inside, warm it up, and it's doing great...
Okay...so today..May 10...
I come home from work and find nothing...until about 5:45 I hear peeping and run outside to find ANOTHER newly hatched, soaking wet baby laying in the middle of the coop with a fresh wound in the same spot on it's head...so it's now inside and doing great.
Now here is my dilemma...I candled the eggs Sunday and found 3 that were ready to hatch any minute (one of which hatched today), 3 that have live embryos (maybe on day 10 or 12)
But....here's where it gets even better....remember the third hen that I told you about that lives in the same coop but wasn't broody? Well yesterday she decided she would also cram herself in the nest with the other 2 hens.
So here's what I currently have....
2 one week old chicks....1 two day old chick.....1 4 hour old chick....and 3 broody hens in the same nest with 6 eggs of varying stages of development.
I have no clue what to do
Each time one begins to hatch...they are cast out of the nest and pecked almost to death.
HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm waitng to hear the answer to this one.
