No sign of the missing rooster. I can't even find signs of a struggle. Makes me wonder if it was a canine of some sort. He and his breed hen produced dark chocolate eggs. I did put 6 of them in the incubator last night. Got another 1 today, but don't want to do the staggered hatch, so I resisted adding it to the bator. Hey, if you ever make it to Missouri, you could come visit!
I have some 5 week old chicks too. I just moved them out of the brooder and into a coop inside the main chicken yard. This way all chickens can see each other and get use to each other before I integrate them with the main flock.
I'm sure it will be fine! It may be slightly older than you thought, or the hen kept it warmer than the others?? Anyway, I believe that no chicks hatch before they are fully ready, so it must be readyMake sure you post some pictures in the next couple of days! and keep an eye on the hen and the rest of the eggs, she may decide she is done and abandon the nest. Do you have an incubator you could move the eggs to if she abandons them? I had to do that before and then as the rest of the eggs hatched I kept sneaking them under the broody (at night) so she went from having 1 chick to having 5! She accepted all of them and they accepted her as well. It did take the chicks a day or 3 to fully understand that she was momma and what all her calls meant, but they got it eventually.
I would love to see before, during and after pictures as you convert the swingset into a coop!
18 eggs today. I took 1 of the turkey poults out today and let it wander while I pulled weeds and battled poison ivy (pulling it up). It didn't wander much, but did eventually eat some greens, bugs and dirt. I was nervous about taking more than 1 out in case it/they ran off or I couldn't re-catch it to put it back in the brooder. But all worked well with just the 1.![]()
I'll try to do some pics, didn't think of it right away hopefully soon.