About a week ago, I had two momma hens hatch their eggs on the same day. One of these hens is a very tame Silkie and the other is a very wild Gamebird, so I took the Gamebird's chicks away from her and put them with the Silkie. I waited a few days after the first of the Gamebird's chicks hatched before pitching the other eggs, because I knew that other hens were going into her nest and had laid a couple more eggs after the Gamebird had already started incubating. I couldn't move the Gamebird due to her wild nature and I couldn't seal her off into the nest, so I figured I'd let her sit on the eggs a few days after the first ones hatched to give the other, later laid eggs a chance to hatch.
Then this morning, several days after pitching what I thought were all the eggs, I see this little guy in the nest.
He's chirping and actively pipping. I have NO idea how this guy made it. After I had pitched the other eggs(and somehow missed him), the Gamebird that had been incubating in his nest stopped incubating. I had also moved his nest around after pitching the eggs, and this guy had to of been knocked around against the walls a good amount when I moved the nest. The Gamebird would still sleep in the nest, even though I moved it, but she wasn't sitting on any eggs in there during the day. I know this for a fact because I pass by his nest several times a day and she's never sitting inside it, and she's begun to lay eggs again. I'm actually not even sure where he was hiding in the hay in the nest, because I didn't see the egg until just a day or two ago, but I was in too much of a rush to pitch what I thought was a dead egg. When I first saw him, I was certain that the hole he made was actually made by ants, so I had picked him up to go ahead and toss him out before the ants get to the newly laid eggs. And then he started chirping! The egg was extremely cold, since like I said nobody's been sitting in that nest during the day, so I warmed him up using my hand, and then placed him in this very old fashioned incubator I had been given a few days ago.
He's now sitting in the incubator, as pictured above, and is much warmer. Like I said, the incubator is a very old fashioned one, it's heat source comes from a heating pad located underneath the wooden box. The temperature inside the incubator is 94 degrees, so I'm still working on getting it to an ideal 99 degrees, but considering the little guy made it several days with nobody sitting on him during the day, I think he'll be just fine if I can't get the temperature to go up a little!
Then this morning, several days after pitching what I thought were all the eggs, I see this little guy in the nest.
He's chirping and actively pipping. I have NO idea how this guy made it. After I had pitched the other eggs(and somehow missed him), the Gamebird that had been incubating in his nest stopped incubating. I had also moved his nest around after pitching the eggs, and this guy had to of been knocked around against the walls a good amount when I moved the nest. The Gamebird would still sleep in the nest, even though I moved it, but she wasn't sitting on any eggs in there during the day. I know this for a fact because I pass by his nest several times a day and she's never sitting inside it, and she's begun to lay eggs again. I'm actually not even sure where he was hiding in the hay in the nest, because I didn't see the egg until just a day or two ago, but I was in too much of a rush to pitch what I thought was a dead egg. When I first saw him, I was certain that the hole he made was actually made by ants, so I had picked him up to go ahead and toss him out before the ants get to the newly laid eggs. And then he started chirping! The egg was extremely cold, since like I said nobody's been sitting in that nest during the day, so I warmed him up using my hand, and then placed him in this very old fashioned incubator I had been given a few days ago.
He's now sitting in the incubator, as pictured above, and is much warmer. Like I said, the incubator is a very old fashioned one, it's heat source comes from a heating pad located underneath the wooden box. The temperature inside the incubator is 94 degrees, so I'm still working on getting it to an ideal 99 degrees, but considering the little guy made it several days with nobody sitting on him during the day, I think he'll be just fine if I can't get the temperature to go up a little!
