Fowl not Foul Flock Diary
May 2008
On the afternoon of 13th May some of the eggs in the incubator began to chirp. There were 4 eggs remaining, which I had candled on day 18 of incubation. It was very exciting to hear the eggs in the incubator chirp, and I wondered how long it would take them to hatch.
In the late evening of 13th May, one of the eggs showed a crack. It was still there in the morning, showing no change. One of the other eggs had started to hatch from the underneath, so I turned it over, to reveal a small hole:-
In the morning, I had to go out for a few hours, and on my return, a chick had hatched from the other egg!:-
I left it to dry in the incubator while the other chick hatched:-
The other chick finished hatching at about 16.00. It seemed to have a large head and upper neck, and when the sunlight shone through its head, there seemed to be nothing within. The other chick was not like this. The swollen head and neck appeared to be fluid under the skin. I wasn't sure if the chick would survive, however it was just as active as the other chick, even though it had difficulty lifting its head. I decided to call it Boris - big, blond, and doesn't look as though it has a brain.
I had to remove both little birds from the incubator before their down had fully dried, as they were climbing on the other eggs, and trying to get onto the incubator heating elements. I placed them in their brood box, where they basked under the lamp.
Above left: the first chick to hatch. Above right: Boris
Meanwhile, in the incubator, a tiny hole had appeared at the wrong end of an egg (the pointy end). The hole was covered by egg white, and the chick inside couldn't breathe. I quickly made the hole slightly larger, and freed the tiny beak from the egg white. It took a large gasp of air, and chirped at me. I placed the egg back in the incubator so the chick could continue hatching.
On 15th May, the chicks second day of life, Boris was doing well, eating, drinking, and its swollen head appeared to be reducing in size.
The egg in the incubator had not progressed further with hatching, so I made the hole bigger, but the blood supply was still connected to the membrane, so there was a small amount of blood. I left the chick alone so it could continue ingesting its yolk sac and bringing the membrane blood supply to a halt.
By 16.00 that afternoon, the hatching chick still had not made any progress, and was chirping very weakly. Gently and carefully Imade the hole in its egg larger. This time there was no blood, and the little bird was able to stick it's head and neck out from the egg. I left it alone to stretch and gather strength to continue hatching.
The two chicks which have already hatched have fluffed up nicely:-
On 17th May the little chicks began to grow white feathers on their wings.
By 21st May the third row of feathers on the wings had just begun to grow.
Above: Boris
Below: Horse
Below: Boris asleep in the food bowl
On 28th May the chicks were two weeks old. They had grown in size and had more feathers, and new feathers just starting to come through on their tails, thighs and necks.
Below: Boris
Below: Horse
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