Early hatch by broody

[MrsEarthern]

Hi friends.
Today, I had the surprise of a lifetime.
I opened up the nesting box to check on my broody hen, and what do I see? I day old white chick.
Everything I know about chickens is a lie.
I let her start sitting on some eggs laid on May 25th. Several of those early eggs were broken or very dirty and removed, so the earliest I was expecting hatching was this weekend (June 15th) or by June 20-ish.
Also, I was told the coloration comes from the sire, and my rooster is black.
My husband Tony pointed out that we may have been visited by a fairy last night.

Some of the other hens have had turns on the nest, so I am hoping one will take over if/when the main broody abandons the nest in the next few days.

My sick hen, Elvira, passed a few days before these eggs were laid, so I intend to use medicated chick feed, etc.

Any other advice appreciated.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I let her start sitting on some eggs laid on May 25th.

It doesn't matter when they were laid, what is important is when incubation started. If incubation started on May 25, then I agree with your counting, the 21 days would be up Saturday June 15. Eggs can hatch one or two days early or late but yeah, it is way too early.

Is it possible that egg had been incubated for a week when you set it?

Also, I was told the coloration comes from the sire, and my rooster is black.

Sorry, total nonsense. Both parents contribute equally to the color according to dominant and recessive genetics. Black roosters can father white or red chicks, depending in the hen.

My husband Tony pointed out that we may have been visited by a fairy last night.

He may be onto something. Do you know anyone that likes to play practical jokes?

My sick hen, Elvira, passed a few days before these eggs were laid, so I intend to use medicated chick feed, etc.

Unless she died of Coccidiosis the medicated feed will not do any good about what was wrong with her. The medicine in medicated feed is probably Amprolium (should be on the label). That only works on Coccidiosis.

 

[MrsEarthern]

Meet Waapa.

 

[MrsEarthern]

It doesn't matter when they were laid, what is important is when incubation started. If incubation started on May 25, then I agree with your counting, the 21 days would be up Saturday June 15. Eggs can hatch one or two days early or late but yeah, it is way too early.

Is it possible that egg had been incubated for a week when you set it?


Sorry, total nonsense. Both parents contribute equally to the color according to dominant and recessive genetics. Black roosters can father white or red chicks, depending in the hen.


He may be onto something. Do you know anyone that likes to play practical jokes?


Unless she died of Coccidiosis the medicated feed will not do any good about what was wrong with her. The medicine in medicated feed is probably Amprolium (should be on the label). That only works on Coccidiosis.

Sorry, I'm excited and wasn't very clear. The eggs laid the week of May 25th and within a few days after, I am pretty sure where all removed. I was dating and numbering them.
She was sitting on the eggs on and off through the end of May but not overnight, and has really only been at it full-time (Which is what I thought was really needed to get them going as it has been cool at night, 40-50's F) for just over a week, and had stolen about six eggs from the other nest that same week. She had 10 she had laid/collected the week before.
She's sitting on 16-18 eggs, which I know is too many, so I am surprised about any hatching at all.
We think, but are not sure, that Elvira passed from Coccidiosis. The feed does have Amprolium. I think I'm going with it because our soil stays damp.

No practical jokers, I was making a reference to Stardew Valley.

 

[MrsEarthern]

Is it possible that egg had been incubated for a week when you set it?

This is a thought. I don't think so, as we'd been selling the eggs and I was clearing the nests daily, every other day at most.

I was also changing the bedding material every couple of days because the sick hen was in the coop and her water/feed was making a mess.
I did find and remove eggs that had been buried in the bedding, and suppose it's possible I missed one that she found and added to her nest, but unless it is possible that the temp and humidity in the coop was just right to auto-incubate (?), the timing is off.

 

[labelo]

Chickens can be sneaky, it seems like the most likely scenario is that a single egg was hidden and has hatched "early"(/on time).

Even less likely--but is it possible you have a broody who nested outside the coop? I've heard wild stories of hens having hidden nests who show up weeks later with a brood in tow. Of course , you'd expect that chick to be with a different mother, unless she's been "stolen"

On the white/light yellow chick--with the exception of a couple of sex-linked color genes (barring and silver, both of which a female chick inherits only from her father), color genes are inherited from both mother and father.

 

[MrsEarthern]

Chickens can be sneaky, it seems like the most likely scenario is that a single egg was hidden and has hatched "early"(/on time).

Even less likely--but is it possible you have a broody who nested outside the coop? I've heard wild stories of hens having hidden nests who show up weeks later with a brood in tow. Of course , you'd expect that chick to be with a different mother, unless she's been "stolen"

On the white/light yellow chick--with the exception of a couple of sex-linked color genes (barring and silver, both of which a female chick inherits only from her father), color genes are inherited from both mother and father.

Thanks. I think it had to have been hidden in the coop.
I currently have four hens and a roo inside an A-frame, elevated coop and enclosed run. I am regularly inside the run feeding/changing water, and while they sometimes lay an egg down there, they have only tried to sit on eggs inside the upper coop.
Three of the potential bio-mom are black sex-links, and the last hen is a gray/Lavender who may have Barred Rock in her line. The sire is my roo Nightshade.
So they could potentially hatch any color? That's cool, I hope she accepts them all.



Nightshade (Sire) and Lavender, photo taken last year.
Hatch momma and the rest of the sex-links are more or less black.

 

[labelo]

Thanks. I think it had to have been hidden in the coop.
I currently have four hens and a roo inside an A-frame, elevated coop and enclosed run. I am regularly inside the run feeding/changing water, and while they sometimes lay an egg down there, they have only tried to sit on eggs inside the upper coop.
Three of the potential bio-mom are black sex-links, and the last hen is a gray/Lavender who may have Barred Rock in her line. The sire is my roo Nightshade.
So they could potentially hatch any color? That's cool, I hope she accepts them all.

View attachment 3858640

Nightshade (Sire) and Lavender, photo taken last year.
Hatch momma and the rest of the sex-links are more or less black.

What's the rooster? I see silver and black, but not sure what else might be in there.

Lavender might have had barred rock in her line, but she didn't get the barred gene (otherwise she'd be barred, it's a sex-linked gene so hens get only one copy). It's hard to know if she's lavender or blue just by looking at her.

My money's on the chick being from one of the sexlinks. They're usually a RIR x barred rock cross, and they turn out E/E^Wh (extended black, dominant over the "wheaten" base that the red in RIR is built on). Your roo doesn't look like he's just black, but maybe partridge or birchen? Either way, if the chick got E^Wh from mom and something else recessive to wheaten from dad, the chick would look like a wheaten chick--light yellow--but its color will change significantly as it grows.

 

[MrsEarthern]

What's the rooster? I see silver and black, but not sure what else might be in there.

Nightshade was sold to me as a Black Australorp-Buff Orpington Cross. The breeder also has BR, Cream/White Leghorns, Silver-laced Wyandottes, etc.
The best guess I have is that he has some Silver-lace in him?
His base color seems to be black with the silver/white and some cream. He has a lot of iridescence, mostly towards green in his saddle and tail.

Lavender might have had barred rock in her line, but she didn't get the barred gene (otherwise she'd be barred, it's a sex-linked gene so hens get only one copy). It's hard to know if she's lavender or blue just by looking at her.

My money's on the chick being from one of the sexlinks. They're usually a RIR x barred rock cross, and they turn out E/E^Wh (extended black, dominant over the "wheaten" base that the red in RIR is built on). Your roo doesn't look like he's just black, but maybe partridge or birchen? Either way, if the chick got E^Wh from mom and something else recessive to wheaten from dad, the chick would look like a wheaten chick--light yellow--but its color will change significantly as it grows.

Lavender I don't have the proper vocab to describe. I got her from the same breeder as Nightshade, at the same time.
She is a pale gray color with some muddy/light brown banding and edging to her feathers.
The three sex-links come from two breeders, two have some red leakage around the face/head, one is solid black with a lot of blue/purple iridescence.

It'll be interesting to see their feather patterns.

 

[MrsEarthern]

This is what I was expecting. These two were hatched by a goose from eggs laid by two of the sex-links I'd given to a friend, and were likely sired by Nightshade.