kymmandco
In the Brooder
- Jun 19, 2015
- 19
- 11
- 26
Short story long, lol!
Actually I'll try to keep it short, but you can read the LONG story here in my original posts...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/posts/by_user/id/361647
So here's the update...
Out of 40 collected eggs only 6 were fertile and out of them only 2 hatched.
All others died in late development but I don't know why. All were active before going into lock down (I water candled them all on day 16-18 and saw lots of bobbing).
I increased the humidity from 45% to 65% and left closed until I got worried on day 21 for the first egg passed.
BTW after emptying the incubator of all other eggs leaving just the 6 fertile eggs in there we had a gap of 5 days between hatchings.
The first was to be hand reared by my daughter and the other 4 we hoped we could slip under Sophia who has been brooding on ping-pong balls for 2 weeks.
A long shot I know, but the plan was to put the first 2 under her as day olds along with the other 2 eggs to hatch under her, but there's no need to worry about that now as we only ended up with the last 2 hatching.
The first pipped at 3pm, did nothing for about 9-10 hours and then must have gone into fast forward hatching and full of life at 2:25am Friday morning. We left him/her until morning before transferring to the brooder around 8am. That was when I noticed the other one had pipped.
The second was a worry from start to finish. He pipped in the center of the egg and started zipping up towards the tip of the egg. After several hours hitting the same spot and getting nowhere I decided to help. There was no way he could have got out himself and was completely exhausted just lying in his egg for several hours after hatching. He had been shrink wrapped, which may have been due to my opening the incubator to get the first out, maybe also getting disorientated as the first continually knocked into the other eggs rolling them all over the place.
It took many hours for the second chick to start to walk, and had turned up toes and seemed to be fitting and sleeping alot. 2 days later though and he's fine, toes straight, steady on his feet, no more twitching (I think maybe shock was to blame, as his hatch was very quick and traumatising for such a little one) and much more active, although still a little less active than the first.
Saturday night we tried to put both chicks under Sophia, she rejected them.
The first was almost 2 days old and the second 13 hours younger. The first was placed under first, and all seemed to be going well, we watched for about 40mins and thought we'd introduce the second, he ran out in front of her and she attacked it. We saved it and after a few minutes tried again making sure he went under her after removing 4 ping-pong balls to make more room.
We again watched for over an hour and thought maybe she was getting used to the new noises from under her but then she started pecking through her wings at every peep until the little one popped his head out and then she attacked it savagely taking both my daughter and I to save it.
We left the first under and brought the nest box into the living room so we could watch all night, early next morning when the chick popped out again, Sophia grabbed, bit and pecked the chick so we had to remove it too.
Now we have 2 little chicks to hand rear.
Anyone have any advise as to how we do this?
I've only had chickens for about 10 weeks and although I've read just about every book, BYC post and scanned Google for answers to my questions am still very unprepared for any of this.
A total nightmare from start to end, but now I'm a converted chicken lover and just want to find a happy ending.
One more thing...
The friend who dumped her chicks and then hens on me wants to take the chicks when they are 6 weeks old.
She wanted and I agreed she could have 1 chick from each of her 4 hens, (the ones we had incubated that were to be raised by Sophia), but only 2 hatched and Sophia rejected them.
Here's my problem, I and my children have now become very attached to these little ones, they are all we have left of our small flock and now have to hand rear them. Bottom line is, we don't want to give them away, especially as we now have to raise them ourselves.
Should I just cut my losses and give them away keeping my promise, or keep and raise them?
I've spent an awful lot of money, put in time and effort which was hard on top of everything else I have to get done, leaving little or no time for myself and my family.
My coop is now much too big (houses 20-24 hens with 8 nest boxes) and the new enclosure is 3mx6m (10fx20 feet) plus the gravelled area under my 12foot trampoline). A hell of a lot of space for 2 chicks.
I never planned on keeping the 4 (now 3) hens.
They are over 2 years old, don't really lay many eggs and I've learned that Bantams always go broody and wasn't planning on breeding much. This was a fluke and very educational and interesting experience that ended in too much heartache for me to bear.
YES, I do plan on keeping more chickens in the future, starting Spring next year I plan to buy some chicks and just enjoy watching them grow.
I forgot to mention that one hen died, and the other 2 have fertile eggs under them but one has gone over with her 8 and the other is due on Saturday with 4, but due to bad weather, constant moving to separate them and keep them safe from any returning predators I fear none will hatch. Day 23 for Venus and 16 for Isabella. Please pray some of these babies make it.
If you read my other posts from the link above you'll understand me and my story better.
Up to now though, we only have the 2 chicks, and breaking 3 hens from their broody should their eggs not hatch to worry about.
Need advise on breaking broodies without hatching eggs now too.
Summary/questions:
How best to hand rear chicks?
Should I give them away and break my families hearts again?
How do I break a broody hen? Don't suggest hatching eggs as they have sat long enough, the weather is getting colder and colder and I really can't go through all that stress again right now.
Maybe I could just keep tipping them out until they go back to their roost. Would be nice to have a few extra hens in the coop over Winter so I don't have to change coops again and everyone can keep warm together, not that any of the hens or pullets like each other which is why I separated them in the first place.
Venus and Sophia are in my dogs kennels and Isabella is in a nest box in the big coop she's sharing with the surviving pullet, but they don't get along so I may need to rethink that when Isabella breaks her broody (actually all 4 chickens are in individual pet carriers inside these housings including Charlie to help keep her warm at night (poor thing is all alone in this world).
I look forward to any replies.
Thanks in advance.
Kymm.
Actually I'll try to keep it short, but you can read the LONG story here in my original posts...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/posts/by_user/id/361647
So here's the update...
Out of 40 collected eggs only 6 were fertile and out of them only 2 hatched.
All others died in late development but I don't know why. All were active before going into lock down (I water candled them all on day 16-18 and saw lots of bobbing).
I increased the humidity from 45% to 65% and left closed until I got worried on day 21 for the first egg passed.
BTW after emptying the incubator of all other eggs leaving just the 6 fertile eggs in there we had a gap of 5 days between hatchings.
The first was to be hand reared by my daughter and the other 4 we hoped we could slip under Sophia who has been brooding on ping-pong balls for 2 weeks.
A long shot I know, but the plan was to put the first 2 under her as day olds along with the other 2 eggs to hatch under her, but there's no need to worry about that now as we only ended up with the last 2 hatching.
The first pipped at 3pm, did nothing for about 9-10 hours and then must have gone into fast forward hatching and full of life at 2:25am Friday morning. We left him/her until morning before transferring to the brooder around 8am. That was when I noticed the other one had pipped.
The second was a worry from start to finish. He pipped in the center of the egg and started zipping up towards the tip of the egg. After several hours hitting the same spot and getting nowhere I decided to help. There was no way he could have got out himself and was completely exhausted just lying in his egg for several hours after hatching. He had been shrink wrapped, which may have been due to my opening the incubator to get the first out, maybe also getting disorientated as the first continually knocked into the other eggs rolling them all over the place.
It took many hours for the second chick to start to walk, and had turned up toes and seemed to be fitting and sleeping alot. 2 days later though and he's fine, toes straight, steady on his feet, no more twitching (I think maybe shock was to blame, as his hatch was very quick and traumatising for such a little one) and much more active, although still a little less active than the first.
Saturday night we tried to put both chicks under Sophia, she rejected them.
The first was almost 2 days old and the second 13 hours younger. The first was placed under first, and all seemed to be going well, we watched for about 40mins and thought we'd introduce the second, he ran out in front of her and she attacked it. We saved it and after a few minutes tried again making sure he went under her after removing 4 ping-pong balls to make more room.
We again watched for over an hour and thought maybe she was getting used to the new noises from under her but then she started pecking through her wings at every peep until the little one popped his head out and then she attacked it savagely taking both my daughter and I to save it.
We left the first under and brought the nest box into the living room so we could watch all night, early next morning when the chick popped out again, Sophia grabbed, bit and pecked the chick so we had to remove it too.
Now we have 2 little chicks to hand rear.
Anyone have any advise as to how we do this?
I've only had chickens for about 10 weeks and although I've read just about every book, BYC post and scanned Google for answers to my questions am still very unprepared for any of this.
A total nightmare from start to end, but now I'm a converted chicken lover and just want to find a happy ending.
One more thing...
The friend who dumped her chicks and then hens on me wants to take the chicks when they are 6 weeks old.
She wanted and I agreed she could have 1 chick from each of her 4 hens, (the ones we had incubated that were to be raised by Sophia), but only 2 hatched and Sophia rejected them.
Here's my problem, I and my children have now become very attached to these little ones, they are all we have left of our small flock and now have to hand rear them. Bottom line is, we don't want to give them away, especially as we now have to raise them ourselves.
Should I just cut my losses and give them away keeping my promise, or keep and raise them?
I've spent an awful lot of money, put in time and effort which was hard on top of everything else I have to get done, leaving little or no time for myself and my family.
My coop is now much too big (houses 20-24 hens with 8 nest boxes) and the new enclosure is 3mx6m (10fx20 feet) plus the gravelled area under my 12foot trampoline). A hell of a lot of space for 2 chicks.
I never planned on keeping the 4 (now 3) hens.
They are over 2 years old, don't really lay many eggs and I've learned that Bantams always go broody and wasn't planning on breeding much. This was a fluke and very educational and interesting experience that ended in too much heartache for me to bear.
YES, I do plan on keeping more chickens in the future, starting Spring next year I plan to buy some chicks and just enjoy watching them grow.
I forgot to mention that one hen died, and the other 2 have fertile eggs under them but one has gone over with her 8 and the other is due on Saturday with 4, but due to bad weather, constant moving to separate them and keep them safe from any returning predators I fear none will hatch. Day 23 for Venus and 16 for Isabella. Please pray some of these babies make it.
If you read my other posts from the link above you'll understand me and my story better.
Up to now though, we only have the 2 chicks, and breaking 3 hens from their broody should their eggs not hatch to worry about.
Need advise on breaking broodies without hatching eggs now too.
Summary/questions:
How best to hand rear chicks?
Should I give them away and break my families hearts again?
How do I break a broody hen? Don't suggest hatching eggs as they have sat long enough, the weather is getting colder and colder and I really can't go through all that stress again right now.
Maybe I could just keep tipping them out until they go back to their roost. Would be nice to have a few extra hens in the coop over Winter so I don't have to change coops again and everyone can keep warm together, not that any of the hens or pullets like each other which is why I separated them in the first place.
Venus and Sophia are in my dogs kennels and Isabella is in a nest box in the big coop she's sharing with the surviving pullet, but they don't get along so I may need to rethink that when Isabella breaks her broody (actually all 4 chickens are in individual pet carriers inside these housings including Charlie to help keep her warm at night (poor thing is all alone in this world).
I look forward to any replies.
Thanks in advance.
Kymm.
