So, I've been so excited because I have three broody birds, a Red Pyle OEG named Pip, a Golden Sebright named Beauty and a mix-breed (half silkie) named Goldie. Today I noticed one of Beauty's chicks had hatched, and was so excited. I let her be until evening (when I planned to move her to a broody pen).
I was very tired and stressed from a party earlier that day and had just came home. I went out there, expecting some cute, happy little babies ready to be moved. I found that there was still only one baby. I used a gloved hand to check under her and found that one of her eggs was missing. It was just gone. She was suppose to have five eggs but she only had three eggs and one chick.
I went to check on Pip, who was in a dog crate that was wrapped in chicken wiring and covered in a sheet and found that her 7 or so eggs were down to three, extremely smelly, dead eggs (covered in gunk), including a green egg (from my EE) I had never given to her. How had it gotten in there? How did a predator pull out the eggs?
She wouldn't have eaten them and kicked over her feeder and kicked out all her hay out of her cage for no reason unless she was panicking. The hens did lay next to her, but it hadn't ever bothered her before. So then I took the two bantam eggs under Beauty and gave them to Pip, but she was so scared she didn't tuck them under her, I had to do that after they got cold.
Afraid the same egg-eater (I'm thinking skunk or opossum, as they leave the chickens alone) might have gotten to Goldie, as her cage wasn't that secure, I went to her pen we had just built for her. One of the eggs was broken and eaten (not like a chicken does it, the top was removed and the insides licked out), but thankfully those under her were clean and she seemed content.
I'm exhausted and just needed to complain, so thanks for listening. Any ideas how on earth Pip could loose so many eggs inside of a fairly secure pen? I had opened her crate, leaving a tiny hole for her to leave and enter the first few days, and I had thought I saw a broken egg, but she still had all her hay and seemed content. She had lost chicks in there to a cat, reaching in through the top, but the top was covered by a sheet and a cat couldn't have reached the eggs. I just feel really bad for her, she's my best momma hen, and now she might not get to hatch any eggs.
Also, my chicks in their brooder seemed to be having sinus issues and were sneezing all over the place (including on me). Thankfully, I think its just all the humid air, as it has been happening for a week or so and they are still strong and lively and growing.
Beauty on her nest of five eggs
Pip with a former batch of chicks (Goldie and Susie are the two female chicks you see in the pic)
Goldie's sister, Susie, with her four chicks
I was very tired and stressed from a party earlier that day and had just came home. I went out there, expecting some cute, happy little babies ready to be moved. I found that there was still only one baby. I used a gloved hand to check under her and found that one of her eggs was missing. It was just gone. She was suppose to have five eggs but she only had three eggs and one chick.
I went to check on Pip, who was in a dog crate that was wrapped in chicken wiring and covered in a sheet and found that her 7 or so eggs were down to three, extremely smelly, dead eggs (covered in gunk), including a green egg (from my EE) I had never given to her. How had it gotten in there? How did a predator pull out the eggs?
She wouldn't have eaten them and kicked over her feeder and kicked out all her hay out of her cage for no reason unless she was panicking. The hens did lay next to her, but it hadn't ever bothered her before. So then I took the two bantam eggs under Beauty and gave them to Pip, but she was so scared she didn't tuck them under her, I had to do that after they got cold.
Afraid the same egg-eater (I'm thinking skunk or opossum, as they leave the chickens alone) might have gotten to Goldie, as her cage wasn't that secure, I went to her pen we had just built for her. One of the eggs was broken and eaten (not like a chicken does it, the top was removed and the insides licked out), but thankfully those under her were clean and she seemed content.
I'm exhausted and just needed to complain, so thanks for listening. Any ideas how on earth Pip could loose so many eggs inside of a fairly secure pen? I had opened her crate, leaving a tiny hole for her to leave and enter the first few days, and I had thought I saw a broken egg, but she still had all her hay and seemed content. She had lost chicks in there to a cat, reaching in through the top, but the top was covered by a sheet and a cat couldn't have reached the eggs. I just feel really bad for her, she's my best momma hen, and now she might not get to hatch any eggs.
Also, my chicks in their brooder seemed to be having sinus issues and were sneezing all over the place (including on me). Thankfully, I think its just all the humid air, as it has been happening for a week or so and they are still strong and lively and growing.
Beauty on her nest of five eggs
Pip with a former batch of chicks (Goldie and Susie are the two female chicks you see in the pic)
Goldie's sister, Susie, with her four chicks
