Thursday of last week one of my broody cochins gave up on her nest. When I went out to collect eggs I found a very cold wet chick laying in the nest. I had a few words with the old biddy and put the chick under another broody. I really didn't have much hope of it surviving. There were 4 more eggs in the nest stone cold. I always open eggs that don't hatch, curiosity I guess and maybe I might learn something. The first 3 eggs had dead chicks in them and the fourth one I thought was dead too but then it moved! Now this chick had not even pipped into the air sack yet so was somewhat protected. I had taken only the top off the egg. I was not going to do anything with it but then thought what the heck and put it in an empty bator and started it up. I did put a warm wet cloth over the top of the egg. The next morning I figured I would be taking a dead chick out of the bator. But no, the chick had "hatched" sort of. It was alive but didn't seem to be very strong and just laid there on the bottom of the bator. 24 hours later I took the chick which was still alive out of the bator and put it in a small box and put the box in a brooder full of chicks. I still didn't think it would live but I was going to give it the chance. The next morning I find the little chick laying in the brooder out of the box which the other chicks had knocked over. The bigger chicks were walking all over it and I thought once again it must be dead. I pick it up and it is still alive. I gave it some sugar water with a syringe and put it in a small prebrooder box. That is when I noticed it was spraddle legged and couldn't walk. So I taped the legs with a bandaid and left it alone. A few hours later, it was up eating and drinking. I went to the coop and got its sibling, yes the cold wet chick survived. The two of them are doing great. I think I will be able to take the bandaid off the one chick tomorrow. It is getting around pretty good. I think I will name this chick Miracle. It is a bantam cochin with a will to live.
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