Well, my humidity must've been WAY off, because out of 30 eggs and 21 pips, I had one successful hatch. All the others, upon opening the eggs, had pipped internally, but apparently suffocated or drown, i.e: pipped too low or never turned. So, my lone ranger is a tiny little black cochin from some shipped eggs. He/she is in the brooder, eating and drinking well, but EXTREMELY unhappy about the whole loner situtaion. The temperature in the brooder is 98, and I have a little Ty beanie baby rooster in there to see if he/she would snuggle up, but no luck. The mirror didn't work either. It quiets down when I carry it around (he/she fits quite nicely in what my husband is calling the "bra brooder"), LOL, but I just can't cart a tiny little chick around 24/7. I have no idea what else to do, and I very highly doubt I'll find any day old chicks anywhere around, especially this time of year. Any other ideas, thoughts, solutions would be greatly appreciated. Em
We actually raised our first chicken, Churkey, alone. She was a send home to my youngest daughter after a school hatching project. She spent a whole year alone free ranging and in her coop before we got 4 new chicks this past spring. She's healthy, happy, very domestic, doesn't mind being handled and was spoiled by the whole family. In many ways, i think she had it better than my other chickens and she never seemed to mind being alone with our dog and cat. Sometimes, I think that she thinks she's a dog. She enjoys being the alpha animal on the property. She intimidates the cat and the golden retriever....
i would just double check the feed store my feed store just got a whole shipment of babies! YAY! i got 3! 2 for sure buff orps and one i think is a cochin but i was hoping for a buff. but oh well the little cochin will live its whole life no matter what! i rufuse to kill the poor little thing. i never kill my chickies. it was an axcident i didnt mean to grab a cochin"well i think it is a cochin" it was in the basket with the buffs and there was only 3 left so i couldnt bare leave one alone.
Where do you live? I have literally just called EVERY feed store in the book and no one has any chicks available or knows of anyone with chicks. How can this be? We're literally in the middle of farm country and no one has any chicks? *sigh* The Lone Ranger is currently nestled in the "bra brooder" snoozing away. I have to go get my girl from the bus in 45 minutes then go to the grocery store, and I sure can't take him along. Darn incubator. Darn *ME* for messing it up somehow. Em
