Came home at 3:30am yesturday and checked on the hatchlings. One was by the food dish ice cold and barely moving.
I also saw a new hatchling hanging out from under mom-it was still wet. So 7 babies under her and this one makes 8. I put it under the heat lamp and patted it and talked to it and hoped it would survive. When my dd got up she went out and found another ice cold and barely moving!!
We put this one with the other. My ds got up and he checked on the babes. Found a (almost) dead one all mangled and pecked by the other broody. The poor baby managed to worm it's way through the fence into her run. She died in my dd's palm only minutes later!
Rotten mean Omelette WAS my favorite chicken! Now I could just chop her neck and not bat an eyelash about it! I went out to do a head count at this point! I finally found the new hatchling behind the nest box under 3 inches of hay!
OMG! What is going on! It too was ice cold and barely moving. Did the mom reject these? The 2 older ones are 3-5 days old and they had nothing wrong with them! Anyway...I just reintroduced them after a full day under the heat lamp and a full day of 3 loving children. Mom was showing them where the food is when I left the coop!
Success!! "Seven" is the only one we will have to keep watch on. He can't walk as well as he should. He is the most unusual of colors and I really hope he has a great chance of life!! We had 21 eggs total. 14 babies hatched from the 15th to the 23rd. 66% success rate.
