Need some advice.... Please respond... someone!

[Theapplechicks]

Well we had one more that was fertile but didn't make it. Was upside down in the egg and I either had the heat lamp on it to high or it just couldn't make it. Not sure which. It's been 5 days since they started hatching and mama had left the nest and kept kicking the eggs out and today left them all together so we cracked them all to check and sure enough they were all infertile. I think one or two may have started but then didn't progress. So our final total was 4 babies live out of the 9 eggs. would have been 5 if the last one had made. Not to bad I guess for our very first hatch. Mama is quite happy w/ her 4. I let all the hens out today to free range and she had so much fun and it was so adorable to watch her run around the yard "teaching" her babies. I was going to put them back in their seperate box tonight but around dinner time she took her little brood and settled them into the big pen w/ her. They of course can't get up to the roost or nest boxes yet so I put some bedding on the ground for them. You could tell she would rather roost but since the babies couldn't get up there she settled in on the ground w/ them.

 

[Sumatraqueen]

A lot of the time they are so excited about their new hatched babies that they forget about the rest of the eggs its unfortunate but at least she let 4 hatch! Good Luck