Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[BDutch]

Still no chicks out though we saw a little head showing out from under Chipie's body, and very little peeps compared to yesterday.
I'm not planning to assist with hatching, but when should I consider it's over and remove the eggs that didn't hatch, and move Chipie ? She still growls when I come near. We're on the morning of day 22.

I always left it to mother hen to decide when to go off the nest with the chicks. If she leaves the nest for > 1 hour , the eggs are abandoned and wil not hatch anymore.
When you discard the eggs that are left in the nest you may find different stages of undeveloped embryos or death chicks. Some (full grown ) chicks live until hatch time but are to week hatch. For me that’s part of nature and I don’t interfere.

 

[BDutch]

It's been a very disappointing hatch here; Eve is still on the nest hoping to hatch the rest, but so far only 3 of the 8 are out, and I don't think any more will appear; there's no sign of pipping there. The laggards are formally only 1 day late, but I think the first hatched Friday, so I reckon it 2. Bizarrely we seem to have 1 each of the 3 breeds she set, though there were 4 Braekel eggs and 2 each of Isabella leghorn and (homegrown) Swedish Flower. I have no idea what the problem might have been; I'll autopsy the eggs when she leads the chicks out and we'll know more then. The three out are very cute though, and being just 3 puts less pressure on accommodation space of course
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Sorry to hear the outcome is poor. Wait a bit longer/ listen if the eggs peep. If there is no life to expect the hen will leave the nest.

Such a bad outcome is not strange with bought eggs. Maybe the transport is a factor.
I had 3 out of 12 and 3 out of 10 with bought eggs. Both times 2 girls and 1 boy. The first time the eggs may have been to warm in the car during transport. Last year the competitive behaviour of the broodies and a bossy hen on my bought eggs probably had a bad influence.

 

[Perris]

I always left it to mother hen to decide when to go off the nest with the chicks. If she leaves the nest for > 1 hour , the eggs are abandoned and wil not hatch anymore.
When you discard the eggs that are left in the nest you may find different stages of undeveloped embryos or death chicks. Some (full grown ) chicks live until hatch time but are to week hatch. For me that’s part of nature and I don’t interfere.

I do the same.

Maybe the transport is a factor.

I collected them myself and 2 hatched, so I don't think that played a part. And I excluded the rest of the flock during incubation, precisely because that's been an issue with this hen in the past. I hope it's obvious what happened when I open the eggs, but maybe the mystery will persist.

 

[no fly zone]

Hope it works for him. Remember B2 (aka riboflavin) isn’t stored in the body so he will need it every day at least until he gets back to normal (if indeed this is the cause of his issues).

He was actually purring last night.

 

[Perris]

so, eggtopsy done, and every single one was infertile (1) or addled (4). Anyone know what causes addling? Edited to clarify as I'm not entirely sure what addled means formally in chicken-breeding, I mean it to refer to eggs where the white and yolk had intermixed; in 1 case the yolk was still intact and I just called that infertile. But in none of these cases was there any sign of any development so I think they were all actually infertile too.

 

[BDutch]

so, eggtopsy done, and every single one was infertile (1) or addled (4). Anyone know what causes addling? Edited to clarify as I'm not entirely sure what addled means formally in chicken-breeding, I mean it to refer to eggs where the white and yolk had intermixed; in 1 case the yolk was still intact and I just called that infertile. But in none of these cases was there any sign of any development so I think they were all actually infertile too.

Of course I don’t know why.
But if you give me a penny for my thougts?

• The rooster doesn’t know where his sperm needs to go?
• The rooster mates only one or a few hens.
• Maybe some of the hens don’t like you’re rooster? It seems that hens can refuse sperm, if they dont want fertilised eggs from the dude that jumped her.

You need 2 to tango.

 

[Perris]

maybe, but we're dealing with at least 3 different roosters here, 2 of them confined with 2 or 3 hens in the case of the purchased eggs. And my hen can choose from 4 roos, so it doesn't seem a very likely explanation. It's the addling rather than the infertility I seek answers for btw!

 

[Shadrach]

Did Henry take part in the rush in and out of the public toilet ?

No, not really. Henry has his dignity to think about. He obviously doesn't want to be seen behaving like his capricious and fickle hens; except Matilda of course who is as steady as a rock.
He did have a look and then got on the the important task of furthering his genes.

I find utterly fascinating that the hen may chose to exert birth control if she does not crouch when mated. I don't know if any other specie have such an ability ? Imagine the power it gives the hen as reproduction of the specie depends not only on her body, but on her good will. It took us humans million of years to come up with equivalent solutions that are so much more complicated to use.

If only it was just not crouching. The poor male goes off thinking he's done the job and then the hen does this...
https://www.livescience.com/15828-chickens-eject-sperm.html

 

[Shadrach]

Still no chicks out though we saw a little head showing out from under Chipie's body, and very little peeps compared to yesterday.
I'm not planning to assist with hatching, but when should I consider it's over and remove the eggs that didn't hatch, and move Chipie ? She still growls when I come near. We're on the morning of day 22.

She should leave the nest on her own. Most do, but not all. I would give her another couple of days at least and then have a look.

 

[ManueB]

so, eggtopsy done, and every single one was infertile (1) or addled (4). Anyone know what causes addling? Edited to clarify as I'm not entirely sure what addled means formally in chicken-breeding, I mean it to refer to eggs where the white and yolk had intermixed; in 1 case the yolk was still intact and I just called that infertile. But in none of these cases was there any sign of any development so I think they were all actually infertile too.

I had to look online just to understand the meaning of addled. Most information I found relate to wild birds conservation, and they do make a difference between addled and infertile eggs. Some reasons I saw mentioned were shaking the egg, bad genetics, deliberately oiling the eggs (as birth control), a little hole in it.
If you're very motivated you could read this. Or this for a lighter historical read though not exactly on the same subject .