My brooding hen’s eggs hatched this past Friday. At first, four of her seven eggs hatched within hours of each other. A fifth egg showed “pipping” but little progress. The other two eggs showed no sign of pipping. They may not have been fertile.
The next day, the hen was off her nest, squatted off to one side. Her four chicks were under her, staying warm. The fifth egg was abandoned back in the nest (and getting cold). The chick within had opened up a hole so I could see a beak and some wet black down. At first, I thought the chick was dead, but it moved very slightly.
On the long shot that the chick wasn’t dead but needed more warmth, I put the pipped egg under the hen. Around dusk of that day, Saturday, the hen and her four chicks were back in the nest box for the night. The fifth chick had been abandoned again. By this point, it was half out of the shell. Again, it seemed limp and lifeless. Yet, when I held it and probed around, it moved its one exposed wing just a little. Not dead yet. I put the half-hatched chick back under the hen.
The next morning, Sunday morning, I went out to check on things. On the way to the coop I was pondering where best to dispose of a dead chick that would not attract predators or scavengers. I had tried burying such ‘animal waste’ before, but something around here is willing to dig deep to get such scraps, so burying it wouldn’t work.
To my delighted surprise, beneath the hen was the fifth chick! Its fluff was still a little matted, needing more time to dry, but the chick was alive! It wasn’t as active as the other four, of course. It just arrived and needed to rest, and they had a whole day’s head start.
I’ve continued to monitor the chicks, looking to see if the fifth one fails to thrive or look sickly. So far, little #5 looks normal. I’ve seen him eat too.
It seems like each year of hatching a batch of chicks brings some little drama. Even so, it’s a lift to the spirits to see that my little flock will have generated its own new members to replace those who will ‘retire’ this fall.
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Hello Mic, you made my wife chuckle about those cute chicks. Barred Rock?
Keep us updated on them, will be interesting to see if chick #5 does well. Bet it’s a rooster 🙂
Did you plant field peas for chicken feed like we chatted about?
Hi Michael,
Yes, barred Rock. Glad your wife got a chuckle. I am watching them all for vigor, etc. So far, they’ve all got good appetites and no pasty-butt. 🙂
I did just plant my cowpeas yesterday. I’m hoping they can become a winter protein source for the chickens. I sprouted them indoors this year instead of sown-in-ground like last year. They got such a late start since they need 75° soil and that doesn’t happen that soon. Ideally, they’ll thrive and produce well.
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