Batface
In the Brooder
so, bit of a complicated situation. We got our chicks in March 2020. We raised chickens when I was a kid, but that was 15-20 years ago, and they were game chickens, not anything we were super concerned about. So we just let nature do its thing.
Well we finally moved to someplace with land, and built a coop and got chickens... only for the pandemic to hit. We're planning on moving again around January, and we will be able to take our chickens, but we didn't really want to complicate matters with new chicks.
But oct 10th one of our girls went broody. Very broody. I tried all the tricks I could find online to break her, except putting her in a wire cage, we don't have one. Finally after 2 weeks we decided to give her some eggs, fully expecting her to give up part way through. She didn't.
So yesterday was day 21, and one hatched, was fully emerged, but dead when I checked on it. Still wet, and not fully cold. I have no idea what happened, she was pushed to the edge of the nest but looked unharmed. I could hear at least one of the 2 eggs left peeping. I checked on her but no hatching till the wee hours of the morning today, day 22.
The last egg seems quiet. Momma is still sitting on the nest, with the little fluffer and the unhatched egg.
At what point do I need to remove the last egg? Will momma leave the egg eventually or will I need to take it from her? Is the fact that there is only one chick a problem?
Thanks in advance.
Well we finally moved to someplace with land, and built a coop and got chickens... only for the pandemic to hit. We're planning on moving again around January, and we will be able to take our chickens, but we didn't really want to complicate matters with new chicks.
But oct 10th one of our girls went broody. Very broody. I tried all the tricks I could find online to break her, except putting her in a wire cage, we don't have one. Finally after 2 weeks we decided to give her some eggs, fully expecting her to give up part way through. She didn't.
So yesterday was day 21, and one hatched, was fully emerged, but dead when I checked on it. Still wet, and not fully cold. I have no idea what happened, she was pushed to the edge of the nest but looked unharmed. I could hear at least one of the 2 eggs left peeping. I checked on her but no hatching till the wee hours of the morning today, day 22.
The last egg seems quiet. Momma is still sitting on the nest, with the little fluffer and the unhatched egg.
At what point do I need to remove the last egg? Will momma leave the egg eventually or will I need to take it from her? Is the fact that there is only one chick a problem?
Thanks in advance.
