About three weeks ago my dark Brahma chicks hatched. Five hatched just fine, one just pipped and then nothing. I finally brought him out of the incubator and helped him. He was totally dry and had absorbed the yolk, but his egg was thick and the membrane was stuck pretty good. He was fine, but smaller than the rest because he stayed an extra day in the egg.
Fast forward a week. We went away for a 3-day weekend. We always leave extra food plus have someone come and take care of everybody. We got home and found 5 chicks in the brooder. No sign of the little one. I'm figuring it died and my pet sitter didn't tell me. I picked up the extra food dish that was turned upside down, and there he was! He was a little weak and staggering around a bit, but otherwise was okay. I figured he had to have been in there the good part of a day.
Fast forward again. Yesterday I went outside to the baby pen. It is inside our run, attached to the coop with a sliding door to the coop in case I want to open it up. There is a ramp to the door and a rock under the ramp to block access underneath. Anyway, I went to the baby pen - there are only 5 dark Brahma chicks! This pen is totally predator proof. There's no way anything could have gotten in or he could have gotten out. I'm moving everything around and looking everywhere. Suddenly I notice something just barely sticking out under the ramp. I crawl over there on hands and knees through the dirt (that area has a roof that doesn't lift off and the entire pen is only about 3 feet high). I reach the "stick" and find it's a foot! I gently pulled and out came baby, sideways, in between the rock and the ramp where he had been wedged tight!
Needless to say, baby has a new name - Jinx!
Fast forward a week. We went away for a 3-day weekend. We always leave extra food plus have someone come and take care of everybody. We got home and found 5 chicks in the brooder. No sign of the little one. I'm figuring it died and my pet sitter didn't tell me. I picked up the extra food dish that was turned upside down, and there he was! He was a little weak and staggering around a bit, but otherwise was okay. I figured he had to have been in there the good part of a day.
Fast forward again. Yesterday I went outside to the baby pen. It is inside our run, attached to the coop with a sliding door to the coop in case I want to open it up. There is a ramp to the door and a rock under the ramp to block access underneath. Anyway, I went to the baby pen - there are only 5 dark Brahma chicks! This pen is totally predator proof. There's no way anything could have gotten in or he could have gotten out. I'm moving everything around and looking everywhere. Suddenly I notice something just barely sticking out under the ramp. I crawl over there on hands and knees through the dirt (that area has a roof that doesn't lift off and the entire pen is only about 3 feet high). I reach the "stick" and find it's a foot! I gently pulled and out came baby, sideways, in between the rock and the ramp where he had been wedged tight!
Needless to say, baby has a new name - Jinx!
