Fishychick
Songster
My one-year-old hen Perky sat on six eggs. Four hatched Mon and Tues, and she left the nest. I brought the two other eggs in to the incubator (that my other hens added to her nest before I marked the eggs). One hatched two days later, and she accepted the baby after a 4 am drop off. The last one hatched about 24 hours ago. The incubator was fluctuating, and Hope was screaming so I put her out with Perky. This morning, Perky was busy feeding the other five and ignoring Hope was was still screaming because she was cold. I watched for a while, and Hope was not doing well. Perky wasn't harming her but she wasn't helping her either. So, I took that as a reject from Perky. Hope is now inside with a Sweeter Heater, water, and food. She, of course, is cheeping a lot. I raised a single chick years ago, and he was very sweet but so noisy like Hope. What can I do to make Hope feel less upset? Should I give her a stuffed animal? I don't want to pull any of the other chicks inside with her. I plan to integrate Perky and her five who are in a run adjacent to the main run with their father and two mothers. The integration will be when they are 5-6 weeks old probably. Once that's done, I can put Hope in that quarantine run to be able to add her to the flock eventually. I'm kind of playing it by ear. I wanted to have a few babies but six is so many! Now, I have 10 chickens! I've never had more than 5 at once. The run is large with a 6'x6' house but I can't let anybody out due to tons of predators. Three species of hawks and foxes all nest nearby. Oh, and I've decided that only one of the babies is a rooster. His name is Dusty. It will be so.
