Chicken TV right on our kitchen counter!
This was the very first time we have ever used an egg incubator. These guys came from the first batch of 11 eggs we tried out. All the eggs came right from our own chicken coop, fertilized by our own busy roosters. How cool is that! Of the 11, just 4 hatched. We were actually expecting the worst and were happy even at this small success because, this being our first time, we had to fiddle around with it trying to get the temperatures regulated just right and work out all the kinks. Many incubator related YouTubes were viewed. ;)
So, three of them are great. Cute cute cute little fluff balls that have made themselves right at home under the super cozy heat light on our kitchen counter. It is amazing how soon the teeny little things act like regular ol' chickens- running around, pecking, scratching, grooming themselves. Within hours of emerging from the egg!
But, the fourth one. There could be no other name for him but "the poor little guy". He came out with his beak all wrong and appeared to be missing his right eye. He was all messed up & lethargic. I didn't expect him to last the night. And when he did, and was even up walking around the next morning, my heart kind of went "uuuuhhhhng, he's still alive.....the poor little guy." With a beak like that, he'd never be able to eat.
Hens and chickens are a pretty fascinating design. It takes 3 days for a batch of eggs under a hen to all hatch. She stays on them all, keeping them warm & cozy & awaits all of them hatching before she takes them out of the nest to eat & drink. So chicks are designed to not eat or drink for 3 days while they wait for their siblings (which is how chicks can be sent through the mail without starving).We knew the poor little guy wouldn't be able to eat with a beak like that, but had some kind of hope that maybe magically over those 3 days he would either work his scissor beak out or figure out how to eat, or even just fall asleep & not wake up because he was a messed up little guy.
But alas, 3 days went by. He acted like a merry little chick doing all the normal little chick things until the 3rd day when we knew he'd start getting hungry. Like clockwork he started pecking at the feed dish on the 3rd day. Pecking & pecking. And I watched him closely to see if he could get any food but there was no way. His poor little beak just couldn't grasp a thing.
There are many millions of male chicks killed every year in the hatcheries because they can't lay eggs so no one wants them. Millions, usually ground up alive or suffocated in a dumpster at less than a day old. Those little guys are totally expendable according to our culture. And yet seeing this one poor little chick that I knew was doomed was just so sad. :(
He started getting lethargic again, and watching him peck & peck was so sad. We couldn't just watch him slowly starve to death, that would be cruel. So, we sent the poor little guy to little chicken heaven this morning. He was just one little chicken out of billions born every year, but it sucked to see him wanting to live & be a normal chicken. But with that beak it was not meant to be.
Poor little messed up guy.
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OMG OMG OMG! Wow! hmmm, where do I start??!! Can I be a famr girl? I just don't know! First of all sad! But good for you guys for doing the right thing!!! I would have done the same, but it would have been hard. Thats farm life for ya. Why can't you let your hens hatch them? Is it the weather? something about incubators are creepy to me, it's kind of like IVF for chickens. I guess I have a lot to learn about! My CO farm plans were to just "wing it" and move and then learn on the job.... maybe I should do some reading first ;) But super cool I can read blogs like yours and gain ideas ;)
ReplyDeleteSamantha
Oh, that poor little chick! I've seen the mangled beaks like that. So sad.
ReplyDeleteWe had to cull 3 hens we got when they showed symptoms of respiratory issues since we didn't want our healthy birds affected. By we, I mean DH. Poor guy had never had to do anything like that before (I was at work at the time). But better than them suffering, I guess.
it is so very hard to watch nature go it's own way, having spent all of my first 18 years on a working family farm and many of my adult years as well I still cry often at the outcomes.
ReplyDeleteHave you thought of getting a banty hen? I have several and these ladies go insanely broody several times a year. I had them hatch out 12 other eggs for me last year and they would have sat on many more had I not chased them off!It is nice to let mother nature do the gestating part for you- 20 solid days of sitting on the eggs would sure try my patience!I have really enjoyed your blog- we have 6 children, 150 acres in Ontario, Canada and also have a Leonsberger dog ( Leo) who we love dearly.Always love to read of others who are like minded and walking their talk!
Samantha~ There are 2 reasons we're using the incubator instead of a hen for our hatching. One is the season, hens don't naturally set in winter. But even more than that, it's a rare hen that will actually sit on her eggs for 3 whole weeks anymore because that trait has been bred out of most modern laying hens. We've bred them for egg production and they've lost the instinct to want to set. Some hens will start but then get bored and walk away in a week. Or, some hens will actually set for the entire 21 days. We're hoping at least a couple of ours will do that in the spring... But the only way to ensure that your eggs will actually hatch are to put them in an incubator. Our poor modern hens just can't be trusted if you really need the chicks (we're selling them) because the instinct's just not there.
ReplyDeleteReading up is great but you can only grasp so much from a book. My recommendation is to stock up on a shelf of farming books to use as reference when you *do* just jump in & wing it! ;)