STRANGEST phenomon. what?! can chickens incubate eggs internally?

[TK421]

Internal incubation for them is like us laying an egg. Biologically impossible for a whole host of reasons. It's much more likely that one of your hens was incubating a secret nest somewhere. Post pics of the chick and maybe it's a wild bird (squirrels can move wild chicks around)

 

[wildeflowers]

Yes, think about it. Internal incubation is an impossibility, but we humans, making a mistake or not seeing a nest somewhere, very possible even if you think it's unlikely. Or you made a mistake identifying the type of bird since it was mangled.

 

[Amy's Animals]

No, no eggs couldnt been hidden in the bedding material, and besides, the chick was found about 30 feet away from the coop

im 99.9% sure it was a chicken, it was fully formed, had down, but its leg was broken.
No feral chickens either. They wouldnt last a day with all the predators out here in the woods.
Like i said earlier, I'm 1000% percent sure that non of my hens were, or are, hiding eggs anywhere, there is simply nowhere for them to hide, they are cooped up 24/7 due to too many predators around. my run is completely bare, with no where for anything to hide, the henhouse is 5x7 and pretty much bare as well. I collect eggs daily and am always watching my chickens and since eggs dont develop without a hen on top of them, i defintely wouldve noticed that, it would be impossible to overlook, especially in my setup.

 

[TK421]

Then we have to consider that either 1) what you found wasn't a baby chicken or 2) a baby chicken was brought from a distance away. Before you discount #2, consider that some raptors with young in the nest may not immediately consume prey items. Also, if a raptor has learned to visit a neighbor's chicken coop, your coop is a logical next stopping point.

Am very intrigued. Would have liked to see a photo of the chick you found.

 

[MimiChick]

Is it at all possible that this could have been from a wild turkey, quail, pheasant or some such? That's the only other possibility I can think of. Maybe hatched somewhere else and dropped by a predator.

 

[wildeflowers]

Vizzini: HE DIDN'T FALL? INCONCEIVABLE.

Inigo Montoya: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

 

[maurerwerks]

Quote:
and I vote someone's cat dropped it. Cats will carry their prey around for a while and sometimes drop it unintentionally. Poor baby.

 

[jomercer]

Awfully late in the year for wild birds to be hatching chicks, ain't it?

Maybe a predator picked up someone else's baby chicken and dropped in your yard.