One of our Silkies was sitting on 2 buff eggs and they hatched today right on schedule. This is not too long after hatch as they are still a little matted.
Our temps here have been over 100 and today was no exception.
2 babies hatched today and it's so hot they are even panting
Here is another picture. They were drying fast in these hot temps. The mama hen pushed them out from under her. The poor babies were even panting.
That buff color is so pretty, they just look cuddly, but bet that heat is hard on them. I can't get over the instinct of the broodies, It amazes me how they can know what is to hot and what is to cold. Sooooo cute
Those are so cute. I can't wait to see what colors I get when Nutmegs start (hopefully) hatching tomorrow. I was worried about the heat here also. Nutmeg has been panting for days but besides putting a fan on her full blast Idk what else to do for her.
Not much you can do in this heat. Have you offered her water? We take a little bowl of cool water and offer our sitting hens water since they don't get off the nest daily and especially stay on close to when the chicks will hatch. We have 3 more sitting hens. Look forward to seeing pictures of yours when they hatch.
Haystack that buff color is beautiful. We lost one of our Buff hens last night to a coyote. They were out free ranging and we went in for a while and when we went back out to lock them up one was gone. We found feathers. We figure coyote since one has been lurking around in the early mornings. She was a darker buff named Peaches. I'll miss her. :(
Smedge: Sorry about your loss!!! What a bummer it is.
Yesterday about noonish my wife called me and said an eagle had buzzed the chicken run, only about fifty feet in the air. She said it already had something in it's talons. I said are you sure it was an eagle. Yes indeed she replied. I spent most of the day watching and waiting to see if it would return. It did as is suspected it would. I noted several crows gang up on it and chase it away. Just minutes later it was back and there were three hawks chasing it. It came over the coop and run with hawks in pursuit. I watched this for at least two hours and it was an aireal show to be sure. About 5ish another eagle showed up and the hawks retreated leaving just the two eagles. They buzzed the coop and run over and over. We have hawks continually, but this was the first time for eagles in probably three years. They were surely thinking chicken for dinner. I stayed in the run with the girls until they went in a nine pm. Lost none, but will see what today holds. Sorry again about your loss Smedge. Haystack
Wow haystack that is quite a story and probably quite a sight to see.
We had a hawk in pursuit of a bluebird one day, swooped right over our pens in the backyard where our dog was sitting right next to. The bird landed by the pool and the hawk jumped on it. My daughter was in the pool at the time and splashed water at it. Usually when people are out and about or they spot the dog they don't come near. This hawk must have had the bird only in its sight and nothing else. Bet it was a surprise when it got splashed with water. Too close for comfort for me.
She is in the sunroom in a dog carrier bc of the raccoons we had lurking around. She gets her water changed & iced down every 3 hours & has fresh food & treats thoughout the day. Quite the little princess at this point. Its just so hot here & there was no breeze i was worried & all those eggs have got to be a little warm to sit on. The fan is on her but she still pants some times. We dont' have a/c or i'd bring her in. Today its much cooler only 85 so she's not been panting, if those eggs would just hurry up & hatch then I'd move her to the bigger dog carrier with larger windows. We couldn't' find it at the time i moved her & didn't want to disturb her later on by moving her. With the food & water under her nose I noticed she gets off her nest every hour for a couple minutes & grabs a drink & a bite of food then hops back on maybe more so than that when i wasn't around.
We have a pair of eagles with babies but they've never bothered any of teh chickens in teh area... but then the hawks don't either. We have lots of trees & not a whole lot of wide open spaces too so that might help. They buzz the top of the house when its cooler in teh evening, sometimes barely 20 feet off the ground in the front yard where there are fewer trees. They are a sight to watch play in teh air, both the eagles & the hawks. Ever seen a hawk try & carry a snake thru the air? We had one last year that picked the 6 ft black snake off the brush pile & attempted to carry it off to eat. it would fly a ways then come down to rest, then fly some more. Took it nearly an hour to get the snake across the field & out of sight.
So no sign of chicks yet huh? Hope they didn't hard boil in the shell from the heat. Sorry that sounds awful. Glad you have cooler temps, now blow hard and send some this way we are still baking down here. Right now it is still 106 in the shade on the back porch and it's 6:30 in the evening. aahahh
6:30 pm & its 85 degrees on the front porch with a cool breeze. :o) even got a little chilly in the pool earlier with teh wind blowing. how did you ever miss the nasty ice cold storms that passed thru last night? I guess I'll have to look on the map & see how far south you are of me.
I actually was worried they might hard boil as hot as it was last week! Either that or i was afraid as hard as she's worked none of them would hatch. She's such a good mommy so far, it would break my heart if she has no babies after this much work. just checked.. no chicks. She's awfully grouchy tho. doesn't like me peeking in the box so they must be close.
Cutest thing happened when I went out to check Nutmeg just a bit ago, I took some bread out to the others as a treat & one lil buff orpington got a huge chunk of bread & ran like crazy to the other side of the yard, about 100 yards, hanging onto her chunk of bread for dear life, following on her heals was her sister.. one would zig one way & the other would zag the other way, till one ran behind a clump of monkey grass & the first one didn't see her so she stopped, dropped her bread & finally took a bite, here comes the second one.. fast as lightening & there goes the bread with the first one now chasing her sister. there was enough for them to both have a piece.. they just didn't wait for it. :) They are sooo cute sometimes.
Too funny, love the story.
Maybe her eggs just took a while to germinate. They can take a couple of days sometimes so it is not unusual for them to go 22, 23 or even 24 days.
Will be waiting for news of a hatch and pictures.
It got to 106 today I think... miserable anyway..
I am so glad my broody is in the house!
Sending hatching vibes for healthy chickez!!!
My neice lives in Modesto and she said it was 110 there. That is just too hot.
I started a new thread to follow Nutmeg from this point on so I'm not dumping stuff on here & the other one was getting a little long, I'm lazy didn't like scrolling that far with my hand still hurting. :(
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1008442/