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Gayleyy

Gayleyy

Songster
9 Years
Apr 24, 2014
319
89
176
Kentucky
Hello all! I have a small backyard flock, a few Ameraucana, a few Leghorn and one Australorp hen. And one beautiful Ameraucana Roo. I have had them all about a year, and love them to pieces! So much fun to watch, great garden helpers and yummy eggs! My children spoil them rotten, and can never spend enough time with them. :)

My Australorp, Thyme, went broody for the first time, and we decided to let her have the chicks. Everything has been going fine up until today. We had moved her to a maternity coop, she has her nesting box, fresh water food, snacks, privacy the whole nine yards. Yesterday the first two babies hatched, and they are adorable, eating, exploring being chicks. Sadly, this morning when I checked on them, I found a dead chick. It looks to me like it could not get out of the shell, and she was still picking pieces of the shell off of it. I took it away from her, and it was ice cold. Then I noticed that some of her eggs were no longer under her, so I put them back under her, but they were cold. Right now, another egg is hatching and it does not look like it is going so well. She seems to have lost interest in the rest of the eggs. I candled the eggs a few days ago and they were all developing just fine, so I really do not know what she is feeling right now. I guess my question, decision, is if I should just leave the rest of the eggs with her and let whatever happens happen, or should I take the rest and put them in an incubator.
 
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Welcome to BYC!

I am so sorry about your eggs and chicks. Not all broodies make good momma's. Some broodies get all the way to the hatching point and do abandon the eggs or chicks. They can even kill the new babies. Not each bird knows how to be a good momma. If you have a hatcher or incubator, and you think you still have viable eggs, you might try to continue with the hatching process. Get the temp up to 99.5, humidity around 65% or 70% and see if the rest will hatch.

Good luck with this. I am so sorry this didn't turn out the way it should have.
 
Thank you for the welcome! I love this site! As far as my sweet Thyme goes, I think I am just going to leave it be. One more has hatched, and she is taking care of all three babies. I know it is too late for some of the eggs, and the others I am not sure. I guess if after a few days they do not hatch I will take them away. I would hate to stress her out, she is so sweet.
 
Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC! Sorry about the chick you lost. X2 waht TwoCrows said. Hope the rest of the hatch goes well... if you do decide to incubate the rest of the eggs, you should be able to give the chicks back to her after they have hatched, usually it works fine if you slip them under her at night.
 
Another one hatched, it is very small, and a small piece of the membrane is still attached.Thyme does not like this chick. I have no idea why, she pushed it away, several times. Pushed it under the straw away from the nest. I tried to place him under her, but she is not having it! She started to attack it, so I now have it. I suppose it could be ill, and she knows it, and that is why. Who knows! The other chicks that hatched, which are all cute little yellow fluff balls she is taking care of great! This lil one, the only black one as it happens, just got a new mom! LOL The stress!
 
Aww, cute little chicks! Hope the dark one is OK.. Do you have a brooder you can put it in to keep it warm and let it fluff up? New moms are sometimes stressed when all those strange little beings start popping up all over the place, and sometimes they don't like odd ones, especially if the chick is peeping or cheeping a lot because it is not happy.
 

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