Suprise chicks and a mad scramble to save some eggs( UPDATE 4TH COMING)

[HeatherLynn]

Holy cow what a stressful night. So my daughter goes out and sees a baby chick all by itself, outside the coop. No mom in sight and we don't let my girls hatch usually. Major freakout. Found the mom with another chick but she had abandoned her eggs one of which was partially hatched. They were cold. More freakout. Heat lamp was quickly in place. Eggs brought inside as I scrambled to get an incubator ready in less than 10 minutes. Boosted the heat fast with hot water in the channels. More freaking out.

First chick from the saved eggs is about fully hatched right now and both babies are doing well. They already ate and drank and are warm and hyper.

Never even knew this gal was sitting. By the kids count we were good and not missing any and to be honest I don't go around counting. We have so many at this point I am just staying on top of checking for problems. She snuck into our sandbox where the lid was only partially on and apparently hid her eggs and hatched them. She is currently back with the other gals and all babies inside. For whatever reasons only my silkies will take care of more than one baby at a time. Every other hen ends up abandoning all but one. No clue whats going on with that.

Well I was sure none of the other had survived. Our hatch rate was pretty horrible this year anyway, even with moms helping. Well one more is almost hatched. I would say before I go to bed this last one will be born.

 

[ChicKat]

congratulations on the babies. Interesting story.

 

[cmfarm]

What a nice (yet stressful) surprise. I hope all the other eggs do well.

 

[HeatherLynn]

No more chicks yet. Miracle of all miracle I had that incubator up to temp in 10 and it stayed stable which has never happened before. Usually it takes me like 2 days. Its a cheapie and not goodie lol.

Anywho the 2 who she hatched are doing well and their little chickie sibling which we hatched is doing great. No movement on the other eggs. They were cold so......but we saved the one that hatched and the abandoned one. It was worth it. Cute cute as can be.

 

[HeatherLynn]

4th chick born. Think Maran and a lavendar D uccle. Wish my camera worked. Amazed that the eggs were that cold and we still had 2 chicks hatch and another egg is rocking. I am more than a little amazed. The eggs were stone cold. As soon as they warmed up everything just started back up.

 

[ChicKat]

Nature has a built in chick survival mechanism. :O)

 

[HeatherLynn]

Obviously. Seriously the only reason I popped them in the incubator is because my daughter was crying for me to save them. They were so cold I just "knew" everything was dead. I was wrong. This was an eye opener big time. I freak out when the temp dips 5 degrees during turning. Apparently I don't give these animals enough survival credit.

All chicks are doing great too. They think they are mini speed demons. With only 4 thankfully there is plenty of room to run.