two and half chicks

[bj taylor]

my broody has gone through herculean efforts to hatch eggs ( I guess they all do). the results are very low. she's got two strong chicks & one that seems to have something wrong - but I can't tell what it is, one chick was crushed just before hatching..
I candled the remaining eggs this morning because I feel like she needs to get these babies out of the nest. they're restless. the remaining eggs have not developed so I took them out. i'm hoping she will leave the nest today now that she doesn't have eggs to sit on.

really glad my coop is virtually wrapped in hardware cloth and all cracks/crevices are tightly packed w/steel wool. a 4' rat snake was in the hoop house yesterday. the coop is built inside the hoop house in one corner. i'm glad I don't have to worry about that snake finding a way to get in there.

the 12 chicks are growing so big. i'm actually kinda glad the mama doesn't have many chicks. i'm on chicken overload right now.

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

Sorry you lost a couple and some of the eggs didn't develope bj. But you will have so much fun watching the hen and her chicks. It is so much different from when you raise them. Have fun!

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

BJ, sounds like the chick is a late bloomer and those can sometimes be slow to get up to speed or they just don't make it. i hope it makes it. i've tried to watch those to be sure momma doesn't keep trying to trample it for not getting out of the way quick enough. or is it something like a large belly that just doesn't look right?

 

[bj taylor]

I had to cull the injured chick. it had a seriously fouled up leg. it couldn't bear weight on it so it wasn't able to do anything. I was worried the other two strong ones were going to lose strength waiting for mom to move out of the nest. they were roaming as far as possible & I had food & water for them, but it wasn't working.
it didn't feel good at all doing that, but I hope mama & the other two will do great.

I took the opportunity to put mama & babies on the floor of the coop & cleaned out her nest box - it was pretty nasty with remnants of failed eggs. I didn't want some kind of bacterial overload going on in there.

saw the rat snake again. sweet darling hubby came out & caught it. I wish I had a camera with me. the snake was almost as long as me, so he must have been about 5 feet. when he was exposed & curled, I thought he was two snakes. hubby carried him way out in the pasture. we might see him again, but we won't have little bitty chicks by then.

 

[baymule]

A rat snake can be your good friend. Is there a way you can tighten up the hoop run so it can't get in? Sorry you had to cull the chick. Even though you know it has to be done, it is still a unpleasant task.

 

[bj taylor]

I really debated whether to remove the snake or not. I had seen a mouse in the hoop house & I think the snake is preferable to rodents and their feces. I wasn't sure he wouldn't kill my big birds at night. they're sleeping in the hoop house, but not the coop these days while the young ones get a little bigger. I know the snake couldn't eat them - they're too big, but rat snakes are constrictors and I wasn't sure he wouldn't kill them.

the coop is snake proof, but it really isn't feasible to snake proof the hoop house.