We've been watching a nest of eggs for about 2 weeks now. It's been so exciting and such a learning experience. There are a lot of things we will do differently next time, but, we will definitely do this again! Letting a broody hen hatch and care for chicks is so much easier than buying the chicks and then having to keep them in a brooder. We've always had to deal with sickness and death in our other chicks. This has been very easy and I think it's so much healthier for the chicks.
Today we actually got to watch the whole hatching process for the first time. This poor chick pipped yesterday morning but didn't hatch until about 11am today. It's hard to watch the chick struggle to get out and it's so tempting to help it. But, we knew we couldn't. It's kind of like a butterfly. They need to do it themselves or they can die.
We had another egg start to hatch this morning but another hen actually cracked the egg and the chick could not get out. The membranes were dried out and it couldn't budge. I tried to moisten them but after several hours it still couldn't get it so I had to help it out a little. It's not looking good at this point but I'm leaving it with the momma hen in hopes she'll be able to help it get better.
Creation is beautiful and really does declare the glory of God!
1 comment:
Thank you so much for sharing this! Beautiful pictures.
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