March 2017! Hatch with us!

[slantrhymes]

It sounds like she's already figured it out. My personal advice when you find a good broody is--Let Her Do Her Job. Then sit back and revel in the miracle you both share.

I'm trying so hard not to be a helicopter parent with her, but I'm excited and nervous. I have to restrain myself from checking on her whenever I'm home (I work full-time). Thank you for the advice!

 

[lilwildrabbit]

Wanted to show everyone moma hen that I rescued the eggs for she is one of my special girls and sweet as can be

 

[dawn secord]

Okay - here is the story........My chicks were going to hatch 3 days apart under an old silkie hen. We have hedges around our coops and lots of wild birds that try to sneak in and get the chicken food (though we've got a set up to make that not as available as it used to be). I had an old silkie hen sitting on 4 eggs in the nesting box. The first chick hatched on Monday, second on Tuesday and then the 3rd and 4th eggs hatched Wednesday. Three sizzles and one silkie. I was thrilled. Late night on Wednesday I noticed on my chicken cam, in the nesting box, that the hens seemed irritated that night like little gnats were flying in there or something. Made a note to check it out in the AM.

First thing in the Am I was out there. To my horror the last 3 hatched chicks were dead, cold to the touch and the 1st hatchling, the oldest, was fading. I held it to remove the dead chicks. The hen freaked and left the nest and wouldn't return. So, I brought the baby in and fortunately had a set up conveniently stored in a cabinet for raising newly hatched chicks. I set it up, raced to the feed store and got some electrolytes for the chick. I began giving it tiny bits of liquid not knowing what else to do.

At one point, I saw a tiny bug on the chick - a mite. So, I went on line and posted "would mites hurt chicks". Immediately my research showed that mites will kill chicks faster than anything. The one chick was surviving thus far because it was the first hatched and had been the strongest. It was recommended on line to take a scant amount of sevin dust on a q-tip and dab under each wing and at the vent. I did so and kept giving the chicks tiny bits of fluid throughout the day. When the chick was resting, I went outside and tore my coop and nesting box apart. I put sevin dust everywhere. I'm an artist and have this big fluffy paint brush in my collection of brushes. It looks like a cotton ball with bristles and is very soft. So I put some sevin dust in a paper cup, and on this dry brush, swirled the sevin dust into the bristles and then swabbed under each adult chicken's and rooster's wing and vent areas. I did this every week for 3 weeks (as it was suggested in the post I was following to kill eggs and prevent future mite problems).

For the inside chick, who by the end of the day was starting to raise it's head, I did the tiny dabbing of sevin dust 3 days in a row - just a scant amount of sevin dust on the wee tip of the Q-tip. By dinner time that very day the chick was sitting up. By bed time the chick was pecking at food on the paper towel. The chick was going to pull through.

Had it not been for seeing the one little mite (just a fluke - or luck) on the surviving chick I would have never known what killed the other three hatchlings. I thank the Chicken Forum for the wealth of information shared here. I have one fabulous 6 month old pullet named Miracle as a testament to it.

Now, because we do have a lot of wild birds in our yard, I completely change out the nesting boxes weekly, dust with Diatomaceous earth and regularly, but not frequently, will sprinkle some sevin dust around. No more mites and we have two clutches of chicks thriving out there right now. Tough lesson. And, my coop was clean - I keep it clean but especially clean because I was expecting the babies to hatch. It all happened so quickly. Still blows my mind. I always fluff a little DE into the shavings - always.

 

[yeye5]

She's on day ten, one quitter out of twelve eggs so far.

What is her breed? She looks like a fluffed up cotton ball...in a very pretty complimentary way!

 

[yeye5]

I'm trying so hard not to be a helicopter parent with her, but I'm excited and nervous. I have to restrain myself from checking on her whenever I'm home (I work full-time). Thank you for the advice!

Oh, I understand. The advice is "pot to kettle"!

 

[yeye5]

Wanted to show everyone moma hen that I rescued the eggs for she is one of my special girls and sweet as can be

She is just gorgeous! And she looks quite put together from just dashing in from a freezing rain storm!

 

[Jessimom]

I
was courious about that myself is it better to leave them in the turner at lockdown?? Or lay them down I can do both but would love to know which one is better before I build my incubator this summer

You DEFINITELY want to take the turner out. It can be very, very bad for them - they can hurt their legs. If you want to hatch upright, most people use an egg carton that you sort of adapt for hatching. I trim as much of the edges as possible, just leaving enough to keep the cups intact. I also cut a small hole in the bottom of each cup. You want to keep the egg upright, but still make it easy for them to hatch. The hole in the bottom allows air flow.

I can tell you that I once missed locking down a couple of eggs during a staggered hatch, and they hatched on the turner, with low humidity. They were dry and fluffy when I found them, so they did ok, but I have heard of chicks getting their legs stuck between the rows.

So, it isn't GUARANTEED they will hurt themselves, I just think it increases the possibility. I want the softest, easiest pad for them to hatch on.

Happy hatching!

 

[lilwildrabbit]

She is just gorgeous! And she looks quite put together from just dashing in from a freezing rain storm!

That pic was from today she is better now I was scared the first day she looked ragged out but is a sturdy little thing!!

 

[lilwildrabbit]

You DEFINITELY want to take the turner out.  It can be very, very bad for them - they can hurt their legs.  If you want to hatch upright, most people use an egg carton that you sort of adapt for hatching.  I trim as much of the edges as possible, just leaving enough to keep the cups intact.  I also cut a small hole in the bottom of each cup.  You want to keep the egg upright, but still make it easy for them to hatch.  The hole in the bottom allows air flow.

I can tell you that I once missed locking down a couple of eggs during a staggered hatch, and they hatched on the turner, with low humidity.  They were dry and fluffy when I found them, so they did ok, but I have heard of chicks getting their legs stuck between the rows.  

So, it isn't GUARANTEED they will hurt themselves, I just think it increases the possibility. I want the softest, easiest pad for them to hatch on.

Happy hatching! 

hmmmm ok I understand upright is better but not in the turner I have an idea as to what I can do I could make a egg sitter that has holes for the eggs to position them upright but give a stable area so they can't get hurt and able to rest in between the rows of eggs do you think about 2 inches of space between each row of eggs would do?

 

[yeye5]

Okay - here is the story........My chicks were going to hatch 3 days apart under an old silkie hen. We have hedges around our coops and lots of wild birds that try to sneak in and get the chicken food (though we've got a set up to make that not as available as it used to be). I had an old silkie hen sitting on 4 eggs in the nesting box. The first chick hatched on Monday, second on Tuesday and then the 3rd and 4th eggs hatched Wednesday. Three sizzles and one silkie. I was thrilled. Late night on Wednesday I noticed on my chicken cam, in the nesting box, that the hens seemed irritated that night like little gnats were flying in there or something. Made a note to check it out in the AM.

First thing in the Am I was out there. To my horror the last 3 hatched chicks were dead, cold to the touch and the 1st hatchling, the oldest, was fading. I held it to remove the dead chicks. The hen freaked and left the nest and wouldn't return. So, I brought the baby in and fortunately had a set up conveniently stored in a cabinet for raising newly hatched chicks. I set it up, raced to the feed store and got some electrolytes for the chick. I began giving it tiny bits of liquid not knowing what else to do.

At one point, I saw a tiny bug on the chick - a mite. So, I went on line and posted "would mites hurt chicks". Immediately my research showed that mites will kill chicks faster than anything. The one chick was surviving thus far because it was the first hatched and had been the strongest. It was recommended on line to take a scant amount of sevin dust on a q-tip and dab under each wing and at the vent. I did so and kept giving the chicks tiny bits of fluid throughout the day. When the chick was resting, I went outside and tore my coop and nesting box apart. I put sevin dust everywhere. I'm an artist and have this big fluffy paint brush in my collection of brushes. It looks like a cotton ball with bristles and is very soft. So I put some sevin dust in a paper cup, and on this dry brush, swirled the sevin dust into the bristles and then swabbed under each adult chicken's and rooster's wing and vent areas. I did this every week for 3 weeks (as it was suggested in the post I was following to kill eggs and prevent future mite problems).

For the inside chick, who by the end of the day was starting to raise it's head, I did the tiny dabbing of sevin dust 3 days in a row - just a scant amount of sevin dust on the wee tip of the Q-tip. By dinner time that very day the chick was sitting up. By bed time the chick was pecking at food on the paper towel. The chick was going to pull through.

Had it not been for seeing the one little mite (just a fluke - or luck) on the surviving chick I would have never known what killed the other three hatchlings. I thank the Chicken Forum for the wealth of information shared here. I have one fabulous 6 month old pullet named Miracle as a testament to it.

Now, because we do have a lot of wild birds in our yard, I completely change out the nesting boxes weekly, dust with Diatomaceous earth and regularly, but not frequently, will sprinkle some sevin dust around. No more mites and we have two clutches of chicks thriving out there right now. Tough lesson. And, my coop was clean - I keep it clean but especially clean because I was expecting the babies to hatch. It all happened so quickly. Still blows my mind. I always fluff a little DE into the shavings - always.

That is a devastating story. I recently lost 2 chicks. Logically I know the circumstances were very different but...paranoia is sometimes a way to make improvements.
What is sevin dust?
I read a chicken blog whose author is a discourager of DE. Not saying this author is correct. I Am saying I don't know enough to decipher what's what.
Can you plz post a link to the threads you researched? I'd appreciate it greatly and I'll read it thoroughly.
I'm one of those "information is power" learners. Too much information can also be conflicting and confusing but as I empathize with your experience of loosing the chicks I know it is my job as the human to inform myself, read and reread, save and access these pieces should I or another human ever need them.
Thank you.