May Hatch-a-Long!

[SunHwaKwon]

You certainly have your hand full!
I have fox out here but it's really the raccoons that do most damage. They just don't quit! I had a terrible time of it thru the winter with them breaking into one coop over and over again. After reinforcing it many times and running a light out there, it has stopped.
Is you run lit at night? I found it really made a difference.
I'm so sorry your guinea hen had that terrible injury. She's lucky to have you to help her.
Do you know approx when the guinea's eggs are due to hatch? (the one that is hidden off in the woods). At least that way you can keep an eye out for them...
I think keeping the others close, in the run or beside it, is best with the predator problem. 
I can't wait to hear about all of your broodies and their hatches.
I'm getting Very nervous right about now...but, same for me, nothing I can do except make sure the broodies have what they need and hope their eggs hatch out well!

I believe last Thursday was the first night she did not come home, so I've started counting from there. So I'd expect her to show up around the 19th or 20th since they don't wait around on the babies and unhatched eggs as long, in my experience (which stinks, because I may not be able to collect any late hatchers and they will be left to die )

I don't have a light in my run but now that you mention it I could move the lights out there that I use in the coops in the winter. I can mount them on the underside of the turkey roost that the guineas are now sleeping on, so even if a fox tried to look up at them the light would be in its eyes and it wouldn't be able to see them maybe. They have taken to sleeping on that roost pretty easily, though I think they feel a bit exposed so I am going to try to weave some tree branches into the wire around that area so maybe they'll feel like they're in a tree. It is under the arched and tarped part in this pic, just a 2 x 4 that is 10' long and 6' up from the ground. This is a pic from last summer so I have done some more work on everything since then, but this side is essentially the same except trim work and finished paint on the closest coop.

ETA I candled the guinea eggs again the other day and they look 7-10 days out but then yesterday evening I discovered the brahma was sitting in the wrong nest and the eggs were all over the coop (sigh). I tucked them back under but didn't get to candle them so I don't know if they're goners.

 

[10 acre woods]

Are they a cross between Americauna and OEGBs (Bantams)? They are impossibly tiny!
Many of my chicks are also tiny but for some strange reason your l smaller in the pic.

 

[10 acre woods]

American gamefowl bantams are an established and ABA accepted breed. I have wanted this breed for a couple of years now. I finally found some. I bought a dozen hatching eggs with an assortment of colors.(BBRed, GDW, dun, and black) The OEGBs that I have are very small and these chicks are smaller than the OEGBs I hatched out earlier this spring. I am anxious to watch them grow into adults.

 

[two j farm]

I hope they're ok!
I didn't know that day 3 is different. Can you explain what it is about day 3? I appreciate it. I love learning new things about this miraculous process!

On day 3 the little chick needs more oxygen so the blood veins start to grow to get oxygen to form the lungs. On day 3 the lungs,legs wings,and tail are starting to form. Your little chick would look like a question mark if you cracked it open on day 3.

 

[candirroberts]

What are you setting?

I have a mixture of eggs. I bought them from a hatchery near by. There is Navajo Jewels, Artic Blue, Palmetto Blue, Lavender Ameraucana, black pearl, sex linked oliver eggers.... I didn't find some of these when I tried to looking them up so I need to look again. I just put them in today so let the count down begin.

 

[yeye5]

I believe last Thursday was the first night she did not come home, so I've started counting from there. So I'd expect her to show up around the 19th or 20th since they don't wait around on the babies and unhatched eggs as long, in my experience (which stinks, because I may not be able to collect any late hatchers and they will be left to die

)

I don't have a light in my run but now that you mention it I could move the lights out there that I use in the coops in the winter. I can mount them on the underside of the turkey roost that the guineas are now sleeping on, so even if a fox tried to look up at them the light would be in its eyes and it wouldn't be able to see them maybe. They have taken to sleeping on that roost pretty easily, though I think they feel a bit exposed so I am going to try to weave some tree branches into the wire around that area so maybe they'll feel like they're in a tree. It is under the arched and tarped part in this pic, just a 2 x 4 that is 10' long and 6' up from the ground. This is a pic from last summer so I have done some more work on everything since then, but this side is essentially the same except trim work and finished paint on the closest coop.



ETA I candled the guinea eggs again the other day and they look 7-10 days out but then yesterday evening I discovered the brahma was sitting in the wrong nest and the eggs were all over the coop (sigh). I tucked them back under but didn't get to candle them so I don't know if they're goners.

That coop set-up is adorable! I love the tall part of the house!
I can only say that the exact day I ran the light out to shine onto the coop that was under attack happens to be the very first night the attacks stopped. It had been escalating from an every-so-often :"what happened" to seeing a raccoon footprint and kept getting worse. Every day I prepared for heartbreak, wasn't sleeping... was walking back and forth many times per night with a flashlight. And somehow those buggers got in despite my patrols. So, in my opinion, the constant light really made a big difference.
I think if you set it up the way you described--shining at the predator--it will be even better than my lighting!
My light is just enough to mimic the light at daybreak. I really hope it works for you!
I use the weaving trick too, but on my front coop which already have light from my motion sensors that I made stay on night and day...I'm afraid i they didn't stay on I might forget to turn them back on. The coops in front often get wet in the rain as they are not on any elevation so I've woven palm fronds thru the chicken wire before rain.

You and I seem to have many similar worries. My crazy-broody event of yesterday is the same broody that kept "loosing" her nest and sitting on random other eggs. Since it is past a full 21 days and I see no progress yet I hope she wasn't off them long enough that they died. It happened 3 times within the 21 days...2 times were very short periods. The 3rd time I don't know how long bcs I found her on fake eggs in the morning and put her back.
I think it's a good sign that she's still on them, hunkered down with that look of concentration.

Do you have any idea how your Brahma was off the eggs?

Re the guinea off in the woods: if she comes back in with any chicks in tow, maybe you could retrace her path to where her nest had been? Maybe collect any late eggs? I hope it works out for you, and her and her chicks!

 

[yeye5]

American gamefowl bantams are an established and ABA accepted breed. I have wanted this breed for a couple of years now. I finally found some. I bought a dozen hatching eggs with an assortment of colors.(BBRed, GDW, dun, and black) The OEGBs that I have are very small and these chicks are smaller than the OEGBs I hatched out earlier this spring. I am anxious to watch them grow into adults.

Thanks for explaining. I think it didn't occur to me until I read this.
I'd love to see pics, whenever you get a chance, of the chicks as they grow up! I have no clue what they'll look like!

 

[two j farm]

Today is day 4 for me. Mouth, tongue, and nasal passages is forming today along with all organs.

 

[yeye5]

Thank you. I am really excited, since this is a new breed for me.

I just reread your original post and I see how I just plugged in words that my brain was familiar with!

 

[yeye5]

On day 3 the little chick needs more oxygen so the blood veins start to grow to get oxygen to form the lungs. On day 3 the lungs,legs wings,and tail are starting to form. Your little chick would look like a question mark if you cracked it open on day 3.

WoW! Thank you! I had read a day by day description of how a chick develops inside an egg, but that was several months ago and I didn't remember these details. Looks like it's time for a refresher course or me!