I'm such a nervous surrogate mommy! There is peeping going on under my hen! The eggs are due tomorrow for hatching. Will she help them if they get stuck and dried out in their shells? Is there anything I should do to help her? ( She and the eggs are already isolated from the other chickens)
Hurrah! I am so excited! This will be the first ever hatching at Le Coop D'Etat! We are so close now...
Help! I hear peeping under my hen! Yay!
I don't think there is anything you can do to help right now. If chickens are like most birds she will not help those who get stuck. Instead she would shove those out of the nest. Then you can do a rescue for those.
Just my opinion based on experience with other birds not chickens.
MollyD
Are you sure one hasn't already hatched? Will she let you look? When one of our hens hatched chicks last year she was so tame my kids sat and watched. They lifted her wing and could see the babies pecking out of their shells.
I don't think she will help them if they can't get out. It is natures way of weeding out the weak ones. She also won't wait if there are eggs that are days or weeks behind the others. When she is ready to take her kids out of the nest she will leave. We had 5 extra eggs layed on our sitting hens. When she got out of the nest to eat and drink the other hens would jump in and lay an egg. When the original eggs hatched out and she left the nest we took the remaining eggs and put them in a basket under a light in our kids bathroom. We figured what do we have to loose, try it and see what happens. We had no idea how far behind the others they were. A week later one hatched. Then a week after that the others hatched.
Let us know how many you get and post a picture.
This message was edited Apr 1, 2008 8:02 AM
This message was edited Apr 1, 2008 8:04 AM
so happy for you!
Go ahead take a peek!!! Congrats!!!!!
Hurrah! I got three so far!
Unfortunately, one died in the water dish while I was at work. It was only 1/4 inch deep with very shallow sides, but I guess it was too much. I will post pix when I get back tonight!
that is sad, but it happens. one did that Sunday while we were at church. congrats on your three babies!
That's a shame BackyardHens. Maybe someone leaned against it so it couldn't get it's head out of the water?
MollyD
Fill the dish with marbles or stones, the chickens can drink between them and the chicks cannot drown. Sorry you lost one.
Great tip LoraK! I'll have to remember that for my chicks.
MollyD
LoraK that's a great idea.
How could a chick drown? Are you using an open dish for water? Our waterer is the kind you put on a mason jar and they can't get their heads down in it.
How wide is your mason jar waterer Granny? A regular one they can and will drown in them, its not that they are too deep its the chick, they fall asleep while walking when they are that young and drown. We had this talk earlier in another thread, its called doing the rubber chicken, one second they are standing walking or eating and the next they are laying down legs out like a rubber chicken sleeping!
I was told last year when I hatched chicks and keets to put something in the water so they cannot get their head in, just enough room for their beak and so far so good. I used those flat marbles last year, this year I am using plastic round big beads I use to make parrot toys.
They do make a non-drowning waterer that is only 1/2 inch wide (I thought thats what I read) that people use for quail and other poultry to help prevent drowning. I have to order one. My quail are due in under 2 weeks. Heres a link to show the difference http://www.shilala.com/waterers.html
I won't say that it couldn't happen, but we've never had anything like that happen. I would like to hear from someone who has.
There is a great company for poultry supplies that is somewhat obscure and I love them. It is a home-based business, husband and wife O/O. They are the cheapest I have found, even cheaper than e-bay. They are a little slow on shipping, but if you plan ahead it is a non-issue. http://www.poultrysupplies.com/index.htm check them out. They have a waterer that is red plastic, screws onto a narrow top mason jar, and works great for even the tiny serama chicks. It is definitely not for older birds, because it is so narrow that they cant get in there to drink.
Congrats BackyardHens! Sorry to hear about losing one. It'll be fun watching them follow their mom around!!
Granny, why would anyone take a chance they didn't have to? Her chick drown in 1/4 you don't need to have your whole head UNDER water to drown, they fall asleep and aspirates on the water. A human being can drown in as little as a couple of inches of water.
Chicks are exhausted for a couple of days after hatching and fall asleep eating drinking and walking. I was told about the marbles by guinea people and I have used it and never had a problem. There is no way putting marbles or stones in a water dish could hurt anything or anyone.
I refuse to get into with another person on this board about anything, been there done that and I would rather leave and never return then have someone keep telling me what I do is wrong. I will leave this thread now and go on with my business. I hope your respect my request and not get into with me on this or any subject, we all have our own opinions and should respect the opinions and suggestions of others.