A few weeks ago I exchanged hatching eggs with a family member. She loved the coloring of our roo – Darth Vader – and I loved the coloring of her hen’s eggs – dark brown and blue. We exchanged seven hatching eggs.
Halfway through incubation I noticed two eggs not developing and removed them.
Day 19 brought us 4 wobbly eggs ready to hatch! One egg was pretty still.
Day 20 we had four pips in the eggs. HATCH DAY!
Four baby chicks hatched – two from blue/green eggs and two from dark brown eggs.
Naturally curious, I very carefully opened the unhatched egg. It looked to be mostly developed by candling. Maybe it needed help, or maybe if it was gone I could learn why this happened.
It was very apparent that the chick had developed until the last few days, but the belly was still mushy so it had stopped at least a few days prior to my inspection.
The beak was covered by the wing and away from the air pocket, so I am wondering if maybe it was a fluke and suffocated in the shell?
Poor buddy. But, this is life.
The Sheep Shed has gained FOUR healthy chicks all with pretty different coloring. 🤗
Blue/Green Egg #1.
Little brown chick is the smallest and lightest.
The other chicks hatched and only this little ones beak was poking out so I decided to help it.
The reason I feel confident helping chicks hatch is because when our hen hatched 11 chicks, I sat with her for hours. I wanted to learn and soak in as much as I could.
Big Red would peck at her eggs to help the chicks open up. As they pulled out of their shell she would jostle them around to give them better angles to get out of their egg. She helped them along, but didn’t do all the work for them.
I pilled little pieces of shell away and allowed the chick to move around and break free. Babes broke from the shell in an hour or so after the assistance.
Blue/Green Egg #2.
One of the chicks that hatched overnight.
Dark brownish red and black body. Fluffy cheeks and reddish legs. This is a pretty unique chick in my opinion. I sure am curious to see the adult feathers.
This is also the biggest chick. A brute. I sure hope it’s not a rooster. 😆
Although a chubby cheeked rooster would be pretty cute.
Dark Brown Egg #1.
One of the chicks that hatched overnight.
This one looks very similar to the other dark brown egg, but I don’t think this one has fluffy cheeks.
It has a lighter black body and a white chin and belly.
Dark Brown Egg #2.
First hatched! I came home from a birthday celebration at my mom’s house and this little fluff was all alone in the incubator. I snuggled it up before going to bed and setting it back in the incubator to greet its soon to be siblings.
Black coloring on the body with a white chin and white wing tips. I think this one will have fluffy cheeks. 😊
I have been trying to get a broody hen for three weeks. I have never failed so hard at getting a hen broody. The only thing I can think of is – it is too damn hot.
In the spring and early summer I have to basically discipline the hens for always being broody.
This go around I would have a broody hen for three days and she would break herself if the habit. Then I had an egg eater. She would just peck and eat all the eggs.
I resorted to putting golf balls in the nesting boxes and hopefully we will get a hen to take the bait.
The goal is to get a hen to raise three chicks and to keep one chick with Phoebe. Likely I will keep the smallest chick with Phoebe and HOPEFULLY they will just grow up and be friends. The other hens pick on Footless Phoebe so she cannot go in the coop.
We built Phoebes her own mini-coop for summer months that should house two hens nicely. In the winter they will be moved to a stock tank in the barn – covered.
Here’s to ANOTHER new learning process.
Please kindly pray for our future because I foresee us drowning in eggs next summer. 😆
If you ever have any questions, or ideas for future blogs, comment below or shoot me an email!
HAPPY FRIDAY!
From the farm,
Alyssa
thesheepshedmn@yahoo.com
