Reaper the chicken

I’m not letting a hen stay broody until I have an experienced hen that knows what she’s doing.

Because my hen kinda sucks.

If you didnt know my hens went broody. It made me super excited because broodiness has been all but bred out of chickens except for a few breeds. (Broody just means sitting on a nest/motherly)

Yeah well it turned out she wasn’t the one eating her eggs. It was another chicken getting up underneath her and eating her eggs. I separated her and the egg eater.

Two. Two eggs I have saved and at this point they were about to hatch so I was like you know what. I’m keeping them in the incubator until they’re hatching and then I’m gonna stick them under her.

One started hatching today.

She totally responded to the chirps, stuck her head under her belly and got all fluffy and mother like.

Then I check on her later and the whole egg is crushed. It was like someone took the egg and just crushed it in their palm.

He’s fine.

I don’t understand how I know how. I guess it’s from 10+ years of experience But I knew when I put him under her that he was ready to be out of the shell.

Well dude, they build their strength by hatching. They have to fight their way out of the shell. And momma just crushed the shell like get out you little shit.

So I took him back inside and put him in the incubator.

He doesn’t look too good first of all because he’s a newborn baby chicken. They don’t come out all fluffy and cute, it’s a newborn baby that kinda just got opened like an Easter egg. He’s also still connected to the remnants of the egg. So that’s why you see crushed egg behind him. As he dries up, that will fall off. He’s building strength right now, if I wake him up he’s all chirpy. The longer hes in there the more he moves around and the louder he chirps.

If I thought he was in peril, I would not be posting this.

I’ve named him reaper

There will be another egg hatching soon, there’s another egg in there with him. But for those of you who know stuff about incubating. I only do dry hatches, so even with him in there all wet humidity hasn’t risen above 50%

Also, he has no blood left in the shell and and has absorbed all of the yolk. He just didn’t get the chance to hatch himself.

Aw he moved around a bit, here’s a better pic

Hahah since I posted this he’s being going wild. I can’t get a clear picture of him

The facts behind this: it takes 24 hours for them to hatch after first breaking the shell. What happens is they pip a little hole, and then they turn and pip another hole and rest. And the process continues until they pop the top of the egg off.

He skipped that step. He’s out of the egg, but he’s still having the bursts of energy that would have helped him hatch himself out. Then he rests again.

And yes I know, poor baby has a shell stuck to his butt, but it’s actually connected via an umbilical cord so I cannot pull it off. It just has to come off on its own.

Now that he’s dry. I offered him back to his mom. She rejected him. She wouldn’t let him underneath her, then she bit his toe. So I’m his mom now. And his toe is okay.