Law of 3s and chicken math..(long read )

[Violanna]

Anyone got advice on how to catch momma hen and her chicks? So far I was able to catch 3 chicks. 1 just hatched today and was napping. One hatched yesterday and wasn’t staying with the group and the last I was just faster than. Momma is super protective and keeping them hidden. We are trying to round them up to move to the brooder at my house. The fencing at my in-laws is too wide and a chick got out and was killed.

Right now I have chicks in a container in the shade with me just sitting and hoping momma comes out.

 

[Violanna]

We caught all the chicks but couldn’t catch Nugget. So sadly she stayed behind. All my chicks accepted the 6 new additions right away! We also found 3 more viable eggs under the shed today. We made a trap door to prevent this from happening again, at least for now. One of the new eggs is hatching as we speak in my incubator, one is def day20-21, no internal pip and I can’t see movement. But it’s so far along we are going to give it 2 days. The last is only on like day 7 so it was laid right before the hatching started. I have it in with my other day 13 eggs. So far we know for sure we have 3 boys. But most were too far old to wing sex.

But that is 14 chicks in the brooder, 1 hatching, 1 maybe hatching soon, and 4 incubating!

 

[Violanna]

So I candled the hatching egg to make sure it was ok after the trip to my home. And noticed it desperately gasping for air. Way faster than should be normal. I poked a tiny hole in the membrane where it pipped, and now suddenly this little one has all the energy in the world! Just a few good breaths and now it’s chirping and wiggling and pecking away! It won’t be long! Definitely a spirited chick! Maybe that’s what we will name it! Spirit!

 

[Violanna]

Spirit just hatching and is in my little drying container. Will sex it and move it outdoors with the rest in the morning after a nice night’s rest!

 

[cadiecat8907]

So you know that saying all things come in 3s? Well last weekend I mentioned to my in laws if we wanted to incubate eggs this year at all it had to be started by September 1st, because we go on vacation during Thanksgiving week so chicks need to be moved to my in laws by then. So we start to plan for incubating within the next week or 2. Then they mention they really need more chicks because a predator must have gotten one as she just disappeared. Now me being the one who picked and raised all their chickens asked which one, and find out it’s their BO… they are thinking predator, now I’m thinking ‘oooo broody hen! Let’s go find her!’

Here is where the law of 3s starts. I go on my mission to find the hen and think ‘well they have access under a shed in their run so they can stay cool and protected.’ Go look and first thing I see is EGGS EVERYWHERE! So I get assistance taking down the mesh near them and use a rake to gently pull all the eggs out, while doing this I find the broody hen sitting on huge pile of eggs about 3ft away from the rest of all these. Decide to candle the 15 eggs I pulled out, and 3 are still alive and well, but momma hen is too far under to give them to her. So I rush to the store for an incubator since I needed one anyways. Toss the 3 eggs plus all laid that day into it, get home and add 2 of my own duck eggs.

Well a few days go by most the eggs are doing great a few aren’t showing signs yet, but I’m giving them a bit more time before I toss them.. Then my kids accidentally forget to lock our chicken run while gathering eggs we lost 4 chickens to our dogs. While we were sad it was something we expected plus our birds aren’t pets even though we love them.

Then you get to today. My chickens need a new bag of food, and my snakes need rats so I go to the feed store and come home with 6 new chicks!


So basically I now have 1. Broody hen on an unknown number of eggs. 2. 7/11 eggs in the incubator showing great signs of growth, 3 from the shed due next week. 3. 6 new pullets to replace the 4 I lost

The math adds up!

Sorry for your loss, but I love the story! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Violanna]

Man Spirit was the perfect name for this chick! An hour after hatch and already standing up straight and has tried to climb out of the container!

 

[cadiecat8907]

Man Spirit was the perfect name for this chick! An hour after hatch and already standing up straight and has tried to climb out of the container!

Oh my goodness, how sweet! Great name for the little chick! Ohhhhh! Thank you again for sharing, this is just so wonderful to read and follow up on. <3

 

[Violanna]

Update on the last 4 eggs! They went into lockdown on Friday morning. One had pipped by 10am. By 10pm 2 more had pipped. At 6am this morning the first hatched. Around 4pm she was fully dry and got so excited to see us every time we came by. So we took her out to spend time with the family while we did crafts. Turns out she LOVES colors!! Like I mean she goes crazy over colors especially bright orange! So we named her Rainbow Dash. We are talking about not having her be with the other chicks because she is so sweet and seems to love us all! May let her bond with us instead of the chicks. At 5:30 the EE egg hatched, my oldest finally got to watch and he was so excited! The last pipped egg has zipped about an inch but no progress the last hour, still tapping away though. As for the 4th egg, it was clearly growing slower at last candling and has not pipped at all yet. Should be soon, today is only day 20 so they were all a little early.

 

[Violanna]

Omg look at the color pattern on this EE!!! She looks like a chipmunk! Naming this one Jeanette! The picture doesn’t show very well but she is gold, black brown and yellow!

 

[Happy hen lover]

So you know that saying all things come in 3s? Well last weekend I mentioned to my in laws if we wanted to incubate eggs this year at all it had to be started by September 1st, because we go on vacation during Thanksgiving week so chicks need to be moved to my in laws by then. So we start to plan for incubating within the next week or 2. Then they mention they really need more chicks because a predator must have gotten one as she just disappeared. Now me being the one who picked and raised all their chickens asked which one, and find out it’s their BO… they are thinking predator, now I’m thinking ‘oooo broody hen! Let’s go find her!’

Here is where the law of 3s starts. I go on my mission to find the hen and think ‘well they have access under a shed in their run so they can stay cool and protected.’ Go look and first thing I see is EGGS EVERYWHERE! So I get assistance taking down the mesh near them and use a rake to gently pull all the eggs out, while doing this I find the broody hen sitting on huge pile of eggs about 3ft away from the rest of all these. Decide to candle the 15 eggs I pulled out, and 3 are still alive and well, but momma hen is too far under to give them to her. So I rush to the store for an incubator since I needed one anyways. Toss the 3 eggs plus all laid that day into it, get home and add 2 of my own duck eggs.

Well a few days go by most the eggs are doing great a few aren’t showing signs yet, but I’m giving them a bit more time before I toss them.. Then my kids accidentally forget to lock our chicken run while gathering eggs we lost 4 chickens to our dogs. While we were sad it was something we expected plus our birds aren’t pets even though we love them.

Then you get to today. My chickens need a new bag of food, and my snakes need rats so I go to the feed store and come home with 6 new chicks!


So basically I now have 1. Broody hen on an unknown number of eggs. 2. 7/11 eggs in the incubator showing great signs of growth, 3 from the shed due next week. 3. 6 new pullets to replace the 4 I lost

The math adds up!