sad - think i lost a clutch

[gimmie birdies]

you do get to a point where you say..." was the egg I dropped a rooster or a hen?" then you tell yourself it was a rooster to make yourself feel better.

 

[amberscave]

Update:
Several of the eggs are moving around and at least 2-3 started chirping this afternoon. No external cracks yet.
So excited and glad I decided to incubate them. We made a quick homemade incubator last Sunday morning when we realized she wasn't going to get back on the nest so this is one heck of a trial run.

 

[amberscave]

Okay one has cracked "her" shell and is rocking around

It's a bantam egg and the other two bantam eggs are bouncing around too. The "full size" eggs are moving a little here and there, but not nearly as mobile or vocal as the bantams. I slipped the full size eggs under the hen over a 4 day period so I know there is a bit of a spread on their hatch date and I have heard that bantams like to hatch early anyway.

 

[amberscave]

started this morning at 6a
and still more chirping and cracking

 

[hdmax]

Congrats on making the correct decision.
I have never hatched eggs, so I know very little, but I have heard that chicks that survive cool downs tend to be stronger birds in the long run.

 

[sumi]

started this morning at 6a
and still more chirping and cracking

That's fantastic!

 

[amberscave]

#5 showed up at 11p
And #6 just hatched 15 mins ago (3a)
No sleep for chicken addicted

#6 has been a quiet egg and even a quiet chick
The rest were born (hatched?) with a lot of chirping and
flopping about, but if maternal instincts had not woken me up,
I would have missed this chicks hatch. Right now she is still
resting in the incubator. She appears fine. Some quiet chirping & moving about
and breathing seems fine, but not much else. I am hesitant to put her
in the brood box with her siblings until I think she can hold her
own a bit. She just seems to be a mellow bird?!