- Jan 29, 2010
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My little silkie hen, Luna was missing at roosting time one night last month, we found her under the coop, behind the skids, tucked in the corner against one of the center beams. She was sitting tight and the was no way we could get to her. She stayed put through all the rainy weather and wind, in fact we only saw her off the nest once. On Thursday when we checked on her she was off the nest followed around by seven little chicks. She brought them out on Friday, but sadly we found one dead under the coop, we think it must have been stepped on or pecked by another chicken. We moved the small A -Frame pen up against the coop and chased the rest of the chickens out from under the coop, and closed the skirting up so the only opening was into the pen, so she could come and go, but would be protected. Saturday morning I went out to find the others had found a way in anyway and she was frantically trying to keep her chicks away from the others. So we chased the out again and while looking under the coop for strqgglers we found about two dozen eggs the hens has laid. I got a stick and managed to roll them all out and only cracked a few
While I was busy with that, the little buggers got in with her again, so I pulled the pen away from the coop and shut her and her family in there by herself. Then I peeked under to make sure I wasnt missing any chicks, because we thought there were 8 and minus the dead one there were six now. I saw another errant egg, got another stick and wrangled that one out too. In the process I found another egg, one of Lunas that didn't hatch. I put both eggs in my sweatshirt pocket, and ended up taking it off and setting it on the ground because I got poop all over the arm. I got busy doing other things and forgot all about the eggs. In the afternoon I stumble across the sweat shirt and picked it up, shook it out and realized it had eggs in it. I brought them in and can led them to see if they were developed or rotten etc. Lunas egg looked like it was well devloped. I dropped it on the floor and cracked it during the process and so decided to peek in and maybe see when or why it hadnt made it. So I am breaking the shell away in the air cell and I see a beak, and then the beak MOVED! I waited and it moved again. The egg was so cold, it couldnt haven been more than 60 outside, so I wrapped it in a heating pad and set it on the sideboard. Before long The little bugger started peeping! So I got out the incubator let it warm up a few minutes and when it got to about 90 I put the egg in. It took until bedtime to get the temp and humidity right, but it was still alive and still peeping. You could see the blood vessels were still red and full of blood, so I knew it haden't started drawdown yet so I just left it alone. This morning it was still peeping, and starting to struggle. I went to a birthday party and was gone all day. Tonight it had completed drawdown and was starting to turn.About 30 minutes later my daughter said it was coming out and sure enough, it had zipped and was pushing hard against the shell, and before long it popped out and tumbled around, strong, healthy and peeping like crazy! So, despite being abandoned under the coop, rolled around by the other chickens, dug up and dragged out from under there accidentally with my stick, stuck in a pocket all day on the ground in my yard, shaken, candled and then dropped and broken, peeled open and ultimately reheated, It HATCHED! Unbelievable. All the unhatched eggs I have brooded over, and second guessed my temps and humidity, admonished myself for maybe not turning and rotating them perfectly, wondered if I handled them too long during candling, ect. ect. ect.yet this little one hatched against all odds. Whatever. I guess maybe it is nothing less than egocentric to believe every little thing I do is so important? Nature vs nurture? I think I will relax more the next time I fire up the incubator.
Its a real cutie BTW. I dont know who the dad is, but it's blue, with a rose comb, five little toes & featherd legs. I'll get pics when it dries off tomorrow. Relax and have a great time hatching!
edited for spelling, grammar ect.....
Its a real cutie BTW. I dont know who the dad is, but it's blue, with a rose comb, five little toes & featherd legs. I'll get pics when it dries off tomorrow. Relax and have a great time hatching!
edited for spelling, grammar ect.....
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