My First Chicks are Hatching

[chick0dee]

I have two hens laying on about 30 eggs. Tomorrow is day 21 for about 13 of them. This morning the girls got off the nest to get a drink and eat, and of course I high-tailed it to the coop to take a peek

...There is one egg that has a nickel size hole in the egg but the membrane is still covering the chick...and 4 other eggs have pip marks...I am so excited!!!

Question #1 How long will it be before they actually break out?

Question #2 Should I take the chicks from the Momma(s) at night??

 

[Becci]

#1 ~ After the pip, it can take up to 48 hours for the chick to zip and break out.

#2 ~ If you have a brooder set-up, it's your choice to remove the chicks from mom or not. If you decide to let them stay with her, you'll need to separate them from the rest of the flock, because they may pick on the babies. This can easily be done by blocking off an area of the coop with wire, or put mom and babies into a dog crate. I'd recommend to keep mom with-in sight of the other birds, because it makes it less of a pain to re-introduce her to the flock.

Good luck!!

 

[chick0dee]

Thanks for the info Becci...

So far I have 6 live chicks. One I found dead, and another I removed because it was being squished. It lived for about 6 hours, then gave up. I don't think it was completely ready to hatch because alot of the egg was still stuck to it (which I did not remove) and there was alot of yolk

Poor thing.. I have 16 more to hatch. Two hens laying in one nest box makes for TIGHT QUARTERS!!

 

[Becci]

Kind of reminds me of my hens......





Sorry about the losses,

but congrats on the others!
Keep me updated!
Wishing you luck!