Lay of the Land: A Peak at the Peep Show

Our chicks have hatched! Here's the full story...

When our hen Lacey went broody in May, we decided to get her some fertile eggs to sit on as she had successfully hatched out and mothered Uno last spring. We purchased 2 dozen eggs from a farmer in Manor who raises and sells eggs and meat from chickens, ducks, geese and more. We received eggs from up to 6 different breeds: Naked Neck, Delaware, Maran, Buff Orpington, New Hampshire, and Jersey Giant.

On May 16, we gave Lacey a dozen eggs to sit on and placed the other dozen in an incubator inside the house, which our neighbors loaned to us. Lacey's eggs were marked with "X"s in pencil so that we could distinguish them from new eggs laid by our chickens, which we gather each evening.

Marking the eggs

Chicken eggs incubate for 21 days. On day 8 we candled the eggs. We used a high wattage flood lamp with a piece of foil over it to focus the light to an egg-sized hole. With the light shining through the eggs, we could glimpse the development of the egg, actually seeing a moving black area inside! We removed 2 eggs from Lacey and 1 from the incubator that were not developing.

Candling equipment

Part way into the incubation period, another hen, Solo, took over sitting on the eggs. Taking pity on Lacey, we took 3 of the eggs from Solo and gave them to her. One afternoon as I was checking on the chickens, I found an egg in the chicken coop, where the chickens sometime lay. I picked it up but then noticed that it had an "X" marked on it. Apparently it somehow got kicked out of Solo's nesting box. Sometimes hens will roll eggs out of their nest if they sense something wrong with them. I saw cracks in the small end of the egg but optimistically placed it under Lacey to see if it would still hatch.

Lacey takes a break from her eggs (in the right box) to explore the center nesting box and stare down Solo (on the left)

On day 19, Solo's chicks started hatching out, and on day 20, Lacey's followed suit. We believe that the warm temperatures outside caused the chicks to hatch a bit early. By the end of the day, all six of Solo's eggs had hatched, and 3 of Lacey's, with only the cracked egg remaining. The eggs in the incubator were finally starting to pip. On the 21st, I opened the nesting box to check on the chicks and found a few of Solo's in the center nesting box all by themselves.

Solo and her chicks in the nesting box

Fearing that they no longer had enough room in the nesting box and that they might fall out, I moved the birds to the grow-out areas we had constructed over the weekend to keep the chicks and their mamas separated from each other and the other hens for safety. I moved the unhatched cracked egg into the incubator when I moved Lacey and her chicks. During day 21 and 22, 9 of the 12 eggs in the incubator hatched out including the cracked egg! As it was our first experience with an incubator, we discovered that the newly hatched chicks staggered around, knocking around the remaining eggs. Fearing that this movement would mess up the unhatched chicks' staging for hatching, we set up a brooder box with the candling light, a small dish of water and a small dish of food where the chicks could dry and rest.

Newly hatched chicks in the incubator

Chicks huddling in the brooder box

9 of 12 eggs hatched in the incubator, including the cracked egg brought in from the coop (in hubby's hand)!

Once they were up on their feet, we took the chicks down to the chicken coop and integrated them in with the other chicks. I have read that this must be done before the chicks are more than 4 days old and in the evening if possible. We found that we could slip them in while the mother hen was dust bathing and not paying as much attention to the chicks as when they would all huddle under her to nap.

Several problems that arose:

The chicks were able to slip through the wire openings between their pens. Solo got upset when most of her chicks migrated over to Lacey. Solo and Lacey started fighting through the wire. I crawled under the coop and tied up cardboard to solve the problem.

Also during the scuffle, a grey naked neck chick who had looked unsteady on her feet earlier, got stepped on by Solo. I took it back to the house for some TLC. It was having problems staying on its feet and kept tipping over backwards onto its back. After some online research I hoped it was only a nutrient deficiency and had hubby pick up Vitamin E capsules and Selenium tablets on his way home from work. What a miracle cure! We crushed a quarter tablet (for 50 mcg) with one capsule of oil (400 IU). We scooped up a bit at a time with a blunted toothpick. We scraped the oil mixture onto the side of the chick's beak and she would then swallow it herself. Over two days, we gave her two doses. She was looking spunky and we placed her out with Lacey and she continues to do great!

Time to take your medicine

When I checked on the chicks one afternoon and added more feed to their dish I noticed that two that had just been added in with the rest that morning looked very listless and were separated from the rest of the group that was running around eating. I scooped them up and brought them inside to try the Vitamin E oil and selenium treatment. We split two dosages between them over twelve hours. Once they were looking perkier, we moved them back outside. Unfortunately, the brown and tan one we dubbed "Chipmunk" has had a hard time being accepted by the mama hens. In Lacey's pen she stayed by herself so we tried her with Solo who gave her some hard pecks and sent her onto her back. We moved her back in with Lacey and once night fell she huddled up with the other chicks under Lacey. But this morning Lacey gave her some pecks too. I'm not sure if it is happening all the time or if my presence brings out the behavior. We'll have to continue to observe them.

Two chicks, including Chipmunk (on right), after some TLC

But the good news is that we have 18 chicks. We could spend all day watching them run around and climb on each other and their moms. For now we'll let them grow and then make decisions once we determine male and female identities.