kritter mamag thad
Hatching
- Jul 6, 2018
- 5
- 14
- 4
I have to share a couple of recent chick stories - they remind you that ...You Never Know!
Long post but I think you will enjoy the stories. Do you have other amazing chick stories?
I had a neighbor ready for more chickens for a new coop. I said I would hatch some out for her. So the next time a hen went broody I gathered a fewof the neighbors eggs and some of my eggs and into the incubator they went a couple of days after mom started sitting about 7 eggs.
(I do not advocate either of the stories as being the norm!)
Mom was hatching hers a couple of days before the incubator started. One evening my husband brought in an egg. It was just laying in the area about 6 in outside of the nesting box that mom was using for sitting her eggs and chicks. But other hens were getting in and out of that area. He said either someone laid an egg outside or she kicked it out. Being ‘smart’ as we are. We sat it on the counter versus candling it. A couple of days later I went to make eggs and decided well, I guess I will see if new or rotted egg. Smacked it on the counter and it cracked with sort of a dull sound. Hmmm… Oh crap (1)… there is a chick in there. Well obviously it can’t be alive it is 2 days later and it is been sitting on a rather cool counter. So I gently pulled off a little piece of shell. Oh crap(2)… the chick is moving. Oh crap (3) I tore the membrane and it is bleeding. Likelihood is it will probably bleed out now. Or never properly hatch. But softie like this household is I sat it on a piece of paper towel to collect the drainage and set it inside the incubator with the rest of the eggs that were still to hatch. The next day “well... huh” the chick is still moving and it has started chirping but still in the egg. Come the next day I figure she is way past due. If I help her out of the shell she probably won’t make it anyway, but I just can’t leave her stuck like that ... the membrane is dry so she will have a tough time breaking thru now. So here I go carefully peeling away the shell. Eventually out comes the chick. Well of ‘course’ she won’t make it. Hmmm… later that day another chick has hatched and they are both actively moving around. So the newly hatch chick goes into the warming box. The ‘amazing’ chick still moves along, she still has her cord attached so want to wait for it to dry and detach. It dries but doesn’t detach. So here goes Julie again, well it is dried and I don’t want her pulling too much as it can also damage her. So I clip it (again never supposed to do that but at least I verified it had dried first!). Hmmm… all is well. Off she goes to the warming box with two other chicks already in it (others have gone out to mom). Husband and I figure, well she will probably have to be kept separate from the outside flock and will be sickly. The next AM we couldn’t tell the remaining chicks apart they were all walking, chirping, pecking… all normal chick stuff! Out she went to mom. We kept checking on chicks and none have an issue! Guess you never know!
So several day slater momma chicken is getting rather antsy. She is a flighty brown leghorn anyways and I have limited her chicks to a small fence inside the coop so I can monitor more easily. After a few days, when mom tries to go outside of the pen, the chicks can’t so she screams and get frantic… until she figures out how to get back to them. I decide I will open them up to the rest of the coop and put a little barrier at the pop-hole that is too big for the chicks to get over but hens can get in. Later that day the barrier has been kicked out/down and all the chicks are happily outside with mom. (Note - Very steep ramp with 4" drop from coop door down to ramp!) Luckily lately I have been leaving their gates shut until later in the day so they are still in a fenced area. Here they are chirping and investigating… and mom showing them the ins and outs of being a freed chicken. Late in the day as it cooled off I said to my husband lets go sit by the pond, relax, and cool off. So off we go. He will never fall for that phrase again. Most of the chickens have gone to bed so I decide to go see if the chicks have made it back in. Of course they haven’t. Mom has them huddled under the coop. They would have been fine for the night. But the people mom decides they need to go back in, as I know better of course. HA! So the first thing I do is move mom. You would have thought I was brutalizing a flock of chickens not just moving one mom chicken. Got her into the coop and closed the door - everyone within a mile knew she was NOT happy. Then off to get the chicks. I think you can imagine that picture – chicks scattering everywhere and not wanting anything to do with this mean giant that just KILLED their mother. Mind you, my 5 med-large dogs follow me everywhere. So there are dogs now outside of the fence getting excited about the chirping and the commotion. One of the dogs, Jake, has come into the fence (pushed by gate that wasn’t latched) and he proceeds to help herd the chicks. Ok well that term is being generous. Essentially he excitedly follows the chicks. Which in turns scatters them even more but makes the dog really happy! Let me pause as you enjoy a mental video. We got Jake out and down to the last couple of chicks when one finds a gap in the inner plastic chicken wire fence, so out the gate she goes right into Fred's mouth. Gasp! Horror! "FRED! NO!" I shout. I will pause here for another mental video. Note that Fred is the largest of our dogs. He is also the one that frequently used to put all of a bottle fed kitten in his mouth. Then spit him out completely slobbery. Kitten would turn around and attack Fred for more. But Fred is also the one that takes off after the coyotes and has even chased the cougar, and will kill/eat other critters. So would he chomp, simply swallow, or spit her back out? "FRED! NO!" I shout again. He spits the chick back out, fully intact and unharmed! We scoop the chick up and pop her into the coop! OMG! Later I laughed … maybe Jake and Fred had a plan. Jake would run them out and Fred would capture them for us. HA! (Let’s not tempt that again!)
Long post but I think you will enjoy the stories. Do you have other amazing chick stories?
I had a neighbor ready for more chickens for a new coop. I said I would hatch some out for her. So the next time a hen went broody I gathered a fewof the neighbors eggs and some of my eggs and into the incubator they went a couple of days after mom started sitting about 7 eggs.
(I do not advocate either of the stories as being the norm!)
Mom was hatching hers a couple of days before the incubator started. One evening my husband brought in an egg. It was just laying in the area about 6 in outside of the nesting box that mom was using for sitting her eggs and chicks. But other hens were getting in and out of that area. He said either someone laid an egg outside or she kicked it out. Being ‘smart’ as we are. We sat it on the counter versus candling it. A couple of days later I went to make eggs and decided well, I guess I will see if new or rotted egg. Smacked it on the counter and it cracked with sort of a dull sound. Hmmm… Oh crap (1)… there is a chick in there. Well obviously it can’t be alive it is 2 days later and it is been sitting on a rather cool counter. So I gently pulled off a little piece of shell. Oh crap(2)… the chick is moving. Oh crap (3) I tore the membrane and it is bleeding. Likelihood is it will probably bleed out now. Or never properly hatch. But softie like this household is I sat it on a piece of paper towel to collect the drainage and set it inside the incubator with the rest of the eggs that were still to hatch. The next day “well... huh” the chick is still moving and it has started chirping but still in the egg. Come the next day I figure she is way past due. If I help her out of the shell she probably won’t make it anyway, but I just can’t leave her stuck like that ... the membrane is dry so she will have a tough time breaking thru now. So here I go carefully peeling away the shell. Eventually out comes the chick. Well of ‘course’ she won’t make it. Hmmm… later that day another chick has hatched and they are both actively moving around. So the newly hatch chick goes into the warming box. The ‘amazing’ chick still moves along, she still has her cord attached so want to wait for it to dry and detach. It dries but doesn’t detach. So here goes Julie again, well it is dried and I don’t want her pulling too much as it can also damage her. So I clip it (again never supposed to do that but at least I verified it had dried first!). Hmmm… all is well. Off she goes to the warming box with two other chicks already in it (others have gone out to mom). Husband and I figure, well she will probably have to be kept separate from the outside flock and will be sickly. The next AM we couldn’t tell the remaining chicks apart they were all walking, chirping, pecking… all normal chick stuff! Out she went to mom. We kept checking on chicks and none have an issue! Guess you never know!
So several day slater momma chicken is getting rather antsy. She is a flighty brown leghorn anyways and I have limited her chicks to a small fence inside the coop so I can monitor more easily. After a few days, when mom tries to go outside of the pen, the chicks can’t so she screams and get frantic… until she figures out how to get back to them. I decide I will open them up to the rest of the coop and put a little barrier at the pop-hole that is too big for the chicks to get over but hens can get in. Later that day the barrier has been kicked out/down and all the chicks are happily outside with mom. (Note - Very steep ramp with 4" drop from coop door down to ramp!) Luckily lately I have been leaving their gates shut until later in the day so they are still in a fenced area. Here they are chirping and investigating… and mom showing them the ins and outs of being a freed chicken. Late in the day as it cooled off I said to my husband lets go sit by the pond, relax, and cool off. So off we go. He will never fall for that phrase again. Most of the chickens have gone to bed so I decide to go see if the chicks have made it back in. Of course they haven’t. Mom has them huddled under the coop. They would have been fine for the night. But the people mom decides they need to go back in, as I know better of course. HA! So the first thing I do is move mom. You would have thought I was brutalizing a flock of chickens not just moving one mom chicken. Got her into the coop and closed the door - everyone within a mile knew she was NOT happy. Then off to get the chicks. I think you can imagine that picture – chicks scattering everywhere and not wanting anything to do with this mean giant that just KILLED their mother. Mind you, my 5 med-large dogs follow me everywhere. So there are dogs now outside of the fence getting excited about the chirping and the commotion. One of the dogs, Jake, has come into the fence (pushed by gate that wasn’t latched) and he proceeds to help herd the chicks. Ok well that term is being generous. Essentially he excitedly follows the chicks. Which in turns scatters them even more but makes the dog really happy! Let me pause as you enjoy a mental video. We got Jake out and down to the last couple of chicks when one finds a gap in the inner plastic chicken wire fence, so out the gate she goes right into Fred's mouth. Gasp! Horror! "FRED! NO!" I shout. I will pause here for another mental video. Note that Fred is the largest of our dogs. He is also the one that frequently used to put all of a bottle fed kitten in his mouth. Then spit him out completely slobbery. Kitten would turn around and attack Fred for more. But Fred is also the one that takes off after the coyotes and has even chased the cougar, and will kill/eat other critters. So would he chomp, simply swallow, or spit her back out? "FRED! NO!" I shout again. He spits the chick back out, fully intact and unharmed! We scoop the chick up and pop her into the coop! OMG! Later I laughed … maybe Jake and Fred had a plan. Jake would run them out and Fred would capture them for us. HA! (Let’s not tempt that again!)
