I want to prove my friend wrong....and prove that i'm right! :)

[Duck_life]

Day 18 today!

Hey clucky, good luck with your broody! I bet she'll be a great chick mommy

 

[ValerieJ]

I ended up with only one chick out of 13 eggs in August. I read that they needed other chicks, not only because they are social and need company in the brooder, but because the other chicks would help them hatch. So, I brought in three other chicks to the same room, and as the chick was hatching there was a clear connection being made between it and one of the chicks in the brooder. There was a special sound the brooder chick was making just for the little one, and the little one would respond, in a back and forth conversation. When Pippi finally broke out of his egg, and saw me through the glass, he would stand on his tippy toes and chirp at me, as if to say, "Get me out of here! Where's my buddy? I can hear him, and I know it's not that mirror!" He was so happy to finally get in the brooder with his mates.

 

[PioneerChicks]

I ended up with only one chick out of 13 eggs in August. I read that they needed other chicks, not only because they are social and need company in the brooder, but because the other chicks would help them hatch. So, I brought in three other chicks to the same room, and as the chick was hatching there was a clear connection being made between it and one of the chicks in the brooder. There was a special sound the brooder chick was making just for the little one, and the little one would respond, in a back and forth conversation. When Pippi finally broke out of his egg, and saw me through the glass, he would stand on his tippy toes and chirp at me, as if to say, "Get me out of here! Where's my buddy? I can hear him, and I know it's not that mirror!" He was so happy to finally get in the brooder with his mates.

That's so sweet!


I plan on listening to the noises my hens make to their chicks then when I incubate chicks I can mimic the mother.

 

[Shadrach]

Yes it is true. Not only does the mother talk to the eggs but apparently the eggs communicate with each other.
There are good reasons for this.
It is in the mother hen and newborn chicks interest for all the chicks to hatch in the smallest time frame possible.
This is because even a mildly staggered hatch (say over 36 hours) gives the chick that hatches first has an advantage. It will be more developed and probably bigger than the chick that hatches last.
The chickens ancestors incubated and hatched their chicks on the ground but the rest of the family roost in the trees. When the mother leads her chicks from the nest weak, or underdeveloped chicks are at a higher risk. In order to maximize her chicks survival chances the closer they are in development the less chance there is of a weaker chcik slowing her and the others down.
You can read here the distress of some keepers when a mother hen just abandons either partially hatched chicks or weak chicks at the nest and goes off with those that are able to follow her. This is mum doing what is best for all the chicks rather than concentrating on those to weak to survive when she leaves the nest.
It is by being able to communicate with the chicks and the chicks with each other that the mother hen is able to a certain extent, regulate individual egg temperatures by arranging them in either a cooler or hotter location underneath her which will either speed up or slow down the final hours of incubation. She can tell waht stage her chicks are in the eggs by communicating with them.
Nobody is quite sure just how this communication is achieved. Some have suggested it's through movement inside the egg, others suggest it is by sound made by the chicks in the egg.
It is something no man made incubator has been able to reproduce.

 

[ValerieJ]

Yes it is true. Not only does the mother talk to the eggs but apparently the eggs communicate with each other.
There are good reasons for this.
It is in the mother hen and newborn chicks interest for all the chicks to hatch in the smallest time frame possible.
This is because even a mildly staggered hatch (say over 36 hours) gives the chick that hatches first has an advantage. It will be more developed and probably bigger than the chick that hatches last.
The chickens ancestors incubated and hatched their chicks on the ground but the rest of the family roost in the trees. When the mother leads her chicks from the nest weak, or underdeveloped chicks are at a higher risk. In order to maximize her chicks survival chances the closer they are in development the less chance there is of a weaker chcik slowing her and the others down.
You can read here the distress of some keepers when a mother hen just abandons either partially hatched chicks or weak chicks at the nest and goes off with those that are able to follow her. This is mum doing what is best for all the chicks rather than concentrating on those to weak to survive when she leaves the nest.
It is by being able to communicate with the chicks and the chicks with each other that the mother hen is able to a certain extent, regulate individual egg temperatures by arranging them in either a cooler or hotter location underneath her which will either speed up or slow down the final hours of incubation. She can tell waht stage her chicks are in the eggs by communicating with them.
Nobody is quite sure just how this communication is achieved. Some have suggested it's through movement inside the egg, others suggest it is by sound made by the chicks in the egg.
It is something no man made incubator has been able to reproduce.

So informative. Thanks for your insight.

 

[cluckmecoop7]

Thanks guys! I'm gonna try anyway.....

 

[ValerieJ]

I do hope your chick will have a couple brooder mates.

 

[cluckmecoop7]

Well, I might have a secret plan for that!

 

[WickedChicksNH]

I have read that the mothers.do indeed talk with their babies and that they will give little taps sometimes when it's near time to hatch
I always talk to my eggs during incubation I dont know if they are like what the crap is that horrible noise bit ya know I still do it lol

 

[The Angry Hen]

No matter what scientific studies may show, once something is starting to develop, and it's a living breathing soul of its own, then it understands us and is existent.
This may be a belief of mine, but it's been proved many times by people who feel that nature is just as lively, and important, as ourselves.

I've experience many beautiful things in the world of chicken keeping along with tough things. But that time, when I hatched my first Guinea eggs, nature was most present.
One chick had hatched- the others beginning to pip and peep. The one, already starting to dry, had wobbled over to the other eggs and spent time with them while chirping softly, trying to help them hatch.
Even now, his name is Henny, and he watches over the other chickens. He's witnessed 2 of his flock mates have an unfortunate attack by a fox, but he's witnessed all of my birds I have today grow up! He's the watch-bird of the coops!



I had a hen named Tink. Tink's mother abandoned her as an egg- but she was alive and waiting to hatch. The egg was cold... but I candled it and saw movement. I later heard chirping, and Tink (or previously 'Tin-Tin' at the assumption of being a rooster) began to hatch. I kept her in a shoe box in my bedroom, talking to her and singing to her up until the hour she hatched! She later became my best friend, following me everywhere. Eventually, she was old enough to leave the house. She lived with Henny- not being accepted by the older birds. Henny was her best friend... and he protected her, too. She passed away this year... but Bindi, another chick abandoned, is now Henny's buddy.


Tink above, Bindi below.



Whether they're baby chicks, or still in their egg, I believe that they most certainly are spoken to by their mother hen. If the mother hen isn't the one raising them, and a human is, then I believe there's no reason not to take that place. Keep talking, and they'll keep listening!



Best of wishes with the hatch! Hope my thoughts are helpful.