handihoes
In the Brooder
- May 16, 2016
- 11
- 0
- 12
Hi everyone. I'm from Adelaide, South Australia and recently acquired a broody hen, an incubator and some fertile eggs as part of a science project for my son at high school. Even though the project only last a couple of months, I have wanted to raise chickens again for a while (haven't had chickens since I was a teen) so we will be keeping all chicken involved. Its only been 10 days since getting our chicken (newly named Rosey) but wow, what a learning curve! The idea of the project was to have 7 eggs under a broody hen and 7 in our incubator to determine how each egg/chick developed differently or similarly. Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse and the hen no longer is sitting on eggs. Firstly, when we picked her up, we were told she was a silkie. I didn't really know much about chickens, so I didn't know differently then, but I now know that she is probably only part silkie and she is not fluffy like silkie, nor does she have a poofy head - she has regular white chicken feathers. But she does have black skin, blueish beak and ears, and 5 toes so I think she is a silkie cross. Anyway, she was sitting on fertile eggs when we got her and we transported her in the dark to her new makeshift home (a converted dog crate of sorts) where she seemed quite happy. The only thing was, my son carried her and afterwards noticed some little bugs on his arms. I didn't see any on the nest, (but I didn't want to poke around and disturb her) so I let it be, but I guessed the bugs were mites. I read DE was good for treating that so I ordered some but couldn't get it locally so had to wait a week. I didn't realise what a rapid infestation would occur or how much of a pain mites are. I now know. Unfortunately, after a week of being a very patient broody mum, the chicken left her nest and wouldn't return. All day the eggs sat cold. I noticed she was shaking and scratching ALOT, so I looked at her and she was covered in millions of red mites...and so was her nest, the eggs, the crate, etc. I went to the vet and got some spray with perithrim (?) and sprayed her well. I gently wiped the eggs. I then steam cleaned every little crevice of her nest and crate and sprayed it all with coopex. I tried to put her back on the eggs but she wouldn't stay 
I took them inside and desperately tried to keep them warm on an electric blanket in a box with water so I could try again. The next day, the eggs were cold again as the blanket had stopped working. So I candled them and found at least two still alive. So I took another electric blanket and put them in it and thought Id try and put her on them later that night. Unfortunately, that blanket short circuited too (probably because it was folded) and went cold so by evening there was no signs of life in the eggs anymore. Very disappointing. On a happier note, Rosey and her home now appear to be mite free. Of the 7 eggs in the incubator, on day 10 we saw that 4 were moving around, 2 appear to be infertile and 1 is unclear. Although the unclear egg seems hotter than the other eggs as its in the middle where the heat must be directing rather than round the edge, so I'm not holding my breath on that one). I'm just not sure what to do now but I'll head over to the Raising Chickens thread to ask for advice. I just wanted to thank everyone for all the great advice given and the great discussions as I've used SO much information from this site over the past week in helping me to build my own coop (still ongoing), how to treat the mites, how to care for the abandoned eggs, etc, etc. Looking forward to chatting more 
I took them inside and desperately tried to keep them warm on an electric blanket in a box with water so I could try again. The next day, the eggs were cold again as the blanket had stopped working. So I candled them and found at least two still alive. So I took another electric blanket and put them in it and thought Id try and put her on them later that night. Unfortunately, that blanket short circuited too (probably because it was folded) and went cold so by evening there was no signs of life in the eggs anymore. Very disappointing. On a happier note, Rosey and her home now appear to be mite free. Of the 7 eggs in the incubator, on day 10 we saw that 4 were moving around, 2 appear to be infertile and 1 is unclear. Although the unclear egg seems hotter than the other eggs as its in the middle where the heat must be directing rather than round the edge, so I'm not holding my breath on that one). I'm just not sure what to do now but I'll head over to the Raising Chickens thread to ask for advice. I just wanted to thank everyone for all the great advice given and the great discussions as I've used SO much information from this site over the past week in helping me to build my own coop (still ongoing), how to treat the mites, how to care for the abandoned eggs, etc, etc. Looking forward to chatting more 
