Does anyone have a funny or interesting hatching story?

[gimmie birdies]

I have a few, but one time I was watching a chick hatch, it popped out of the egg, then ducked his head back into the lower shell like it didn't want to hatch.

I also had a cracked egg, where I didn't notice the crack until day 8 or so, and it still hatched. Nail polish.

With hatching eggs, and hens sitting, I try and have an extra incubator on hand just incase one zonks out, or a hen gets bored.

 

[Lemon-Drop]

I haven’t done much hatching, but the first chick that I “hatched” wasn’t purposeful.

I came home from vacation, and I realized that the person taking care of my flock while I was away didn’t realize that they sometimes laid eggs in the corner of the coop (not in the nest boxes that are accessed externally). Anyway, one of my girls, Pebbles, had gone broody… and we have a rooster. Naturally, with a mix of curiosity and excitement, I candled the eggs. Only two were developing, so I decided to leave them be and see what happened. A week or two later, I noticed some cracks in the shell and some cheeping. Two chicks hatched, I named them Hope and Joy. Unfortunately, as it was fairly cold in the spring, Hope was born a day later than Joy and when exploring the run did not return. But Joy stayed with mama Pebbles, and was a great girl!

Very much unfortunately, it was a few weeks ago that she was taken by a coyote. Rest in peace, sweet girl. She was, as her name says, such a joy!

This is a picture of Joy and mama Pebbles.

 

[gimmie birdies]

Nice story.