BABY CHICK HATCHING CHRONICLES: Update: So, as most of you know, my first egg layer, Miss Tennessee Honey, decided to go broody on me just three short months after laying her first egg. I was so sad for her, as I do not have a rooster so my girls all lay infertile eggs and Miss Honey desperately (and fiercely) wanted to keep those infertile eggs warm in hopes of hatching some babies. Id taken her off the nest and we had a long discussion as to why she couldnt do that (yes, I talk to my pet chickens). She was good for the rest of the day, but much to my dismay, was back on the eggs the next morning. I was going to have to break her broodyness, remove her from her coop and isolate her until she quit (broody hens will malnourish themselves to keep their eggs warm and cared for, not something I wanted her doing for no reason). I decided I needed to get her some fertile eggs. She wanted to be a mama so bad,I was about to give up searching and then, my sweet friend Catherine gifted her 9 fertile eggs!!! Honey was so incredibly excited and took to them like a champ! Everything was going well until week two, signs of a ruckus that seemed to occur in the coop! One egg was on the coop floor and one was completely gone, its yolk all over the others but no sign of eggshell. I knew I could not wash the others though because doing so could risk removing the bloom (the eggs natural protection against bacteria), so I let them be, placed the other back under her and let her be with fingers crossed that everything works out. Several daily routine checks continued and everything was going awesome. Including, much to my amazement, shed somehow cleaned her eggs of the mess from the coop ruckus too!! (nature never ceases to amaze me) We did our first candling on Saturday. We discovered one egg was unfertilized and one was a quitter and stopped developing midway (it was awfully stinky) so we have discarded those. Occasionally an egg would find its way onto the coop floor or somehow into the neighbouring nest box (have no idea how) but Id just put it back under her, so its possible it was the cause of the quitter. We are now through with day 17 and with only 3 more days to go, Casey and I are going crazy with anticipation!! Weve numbered our eggs and after our last candling this evening, weve come to the conclusion that Miss Honey should be hatching 6 adorable bantam cochin chicks by Saturday!!! We are moving Honey to her maternity ward now :-) way excited!!! Be prepared for pictures, video and epic cuteness in the coming weeks :-) :-) :-)
Posted on: Wed, 14 May 2014 03:12:38 +0000
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