Newbie here! To our surprise we have a dedicated brooder. For the past couple weeks she has been brooding but for most of that time we thought nothing of it. We have had girls in the past who have SEEMED broody but lost interested and never saw it through so we didn't take note of the day she started. Since she has been so consistent and dedicated, I started getting excited/hopeful this time around.
Yesterday was my chance I thought! While she was in the run for her brief break I went in and quickly "candled" the eggs with my cell phone flashlight as best as I could since it wasn't totally dark and flashlight probably not bright enough...a couple eggs were obvious duds with the light shining completely through but a few seemed very dense..noticible airsac but then the rest dense black..never doing this before I thought they were either very rotten of VERY full of chick...the last one that I did I saw movement!! My heart melted like seeing your first ultrasound movement! it appeared to look like a beak (a point shape) slowly going up and down into the airsac! I called a more experienced friend who said I may already be a couple days away from hatching...so super excited I started "Nesting" myself, figureing out where we will move momma and babies once they hatch to keep away from the flock, assuming it's too late now to move them if we really are that close.
This morning I went and got chick feed, and even bought a brick snack for the other 3 (one hen two roosters which we are in the process of rehoming the Roosters shortly), figuring I should keep them occupied so they leave momma hen alone.....too late
When I opened the coop there was a bloody egg torn open in the middle of the coop with baby chick curled up inside.
So my mind is racing ..did the others snatch it still as an egg? Was the chick hatching and it startled them and they snatched it? being that it was so tightly curled up I feel like maybe it wasn't hatching unless is curled back up for protection... did it already die inside and the mom rolled it out of the clutch and the others had at it? being that it was hours after I moved them to candle them could I have been the one to kill it and does that mean the others probably are too? ugh! is there hope for the rest of the eggs or are the odds against us due to me moving them so late in the game as well as now the others have a taste for egg
Yesterday was my chance I thought! While she was in the run for her brief break I went in and quickly "candled" the eggs with my cell phone flashlight as best as I could since it wasn't totally dark and flashlight probably not bright enough...a couple eggs were obvious duds with the light shining completely through but a few seemed very dense..noticible airsac but then the rest dense black..never doing this before I thought they were either very rotten of VERY full of chick...the last one that I did I saw movement!! My heart melted like seeing your first ultrasound movement! it appeared to look like a beak (a point shape) slowly going up and down into the airsac! I called a more experienced friend who said I may already be a couple days away from hatching...so super excited I started "Nesting" myself, figureing out where we will move momma and babies once they hatch to keep away from the flock, assuming it's too late now to move them if we really are that close.
This morning I went and got chick feed, and even bought a brick snack for the other 3 (one hen two roosters which we are in the process of rehoming the Roosters shortly), figuring I should keep them occupied so they leave momma hen alone.....too late
When I opened the coop there was a bloody egg torn open in the middle of the coop with baby chick curled up inside.
So my mind is racing ..did the others snatch it still as an egg? Was the chick hatching and it startled them and they snatched it? being that it was so tightly curled up I feel like maybe it wasn't hatching unless is curled back up for protection... did it already die inside and the mom rolled it out of the clutch and the others had at it? being that it was hours after I moved them to candle them could I have been the one to kill it and does that mean the others probably are too? ugh! is there hope for the rest of the eggs or are the odds against us due to me moving them so late in the game as well as now the others have a taste for egg
