I found a broken egg in the nest box today :(

But I kept looking and found THIS!!!




So now, all you breeder people... is there anything special I need to be doing or watching out for? I looked at the babies crop and it was full, so I know it got fed. And this hen is an experienced mom, so I'm not too worried about her, I'm more worried that I'll do something wrong or miss something important.

Wow! That sure happened fast!

Omg, it's so naked!

Leave her alone and keep her food topped off. This is not the time to try to convert her to any new diets. When I have pairs on babies they get whatever they want 24/7. Some pairs stop touching pellets and I have to keep the seed bowl filled all day long. So be it if that's what they want. I've tried reducing the seed to force them to feed the babies more pellets and fresh foods and they just end up letting babies die.

Check the box once a day and see how the baby looks. Even experienced pairs will kill babies if disturbed too often. Generally, the parents become more tolerant of disturbance once the babies are a little older and start pinfeathering. So if you want to co-parent, you can handle them a bit more often at that point. I'd cover off the entrance hole with a piece of cardboard so mom & dad don't see you messing with the babies.

That's about it.

Sounds like good advice to me.

ScooterNScotty wrote:

Wow! That sure happened fast!

I know! The last few days went by in a flash. I was worried because one of the chicks didn't seem to be developing when I candled it, and I thought that one or two of the chicks had perhaps died because when I candled THOSE eggs I couldn't see anything. In retrospect, I think what happened is that the ones I thought had died were the older chicks and they had just grown so much in the egg they couldn't move and I couldn't see through them, and the ones I last saw moving were the youngest chicks (that I couldn't see at all the first time) that had grown to the same point the older ones were last time. Does that make sense?

GlassOnion wrote:

Omg, it's so naked!

I know!!! What boggles my mind is how LONG their necks are. I saw one at the store last week that had it's neck stretched ... all. the. way. across it's siblings egg with it's head hanging on the other side. It looked sooo... unlivable! What these little guys can survive is completely astounding!

patdbunny wrote:

Leave her alone and keep her food topped off. This is not the time to try to convert her to any new diets. When I have pairs on babies they get whatever they want 24/7. Some pairs stop touching pellets and I have to keep the seed bowl filled all day long. So be it if that's what they want. I've tried reducing the seed to force them to feed the babies more pellets and fresh foods and they just end up letting babies die.

Check the box once a day and see how the baby looks. Even experienced pairs will kill babies if disturbed too often. Generally, the parents become more tolerant of disturbance once the babies are a little older and start pinfeathering. So if you want to co-parent, you can handle them a bit more often at that point. I'd cover off the entrance hole with a piece of cardboard so mom & dad don't see you messing with the babies.

That's about it.

Lots of seed. Got it. I dropped some millet in the box for her today too... she seemed to appreciate it. It was really crowded in there with the mom, all the eggs, and two dads. I'm glad it's not me!

Oh yeah... one more question... when you start handling the chicks, do you take them out of the box or just mess with them inside the box? And why do you not want mom/dad to see you playing with the babies?

Stress mom and dad out to see you messing with the chicks. Many parents will kill their babies.This year Josie went into the YN's box and the Cock killed the baby and the hen quit sitting the other two eggs that where about to hatch. Cost me three YN chicks. so she could take a picture.Know your parents and most time older parents don't need any help.

Yes, as Capt said - It stresses out the parents to see you poking your hand in there and messing with their kids. I've noticed that if I cover the hole they parents initially are freaking that they can't get in, but once uncovered they go in and see that everything's fine. They get used to not really panicking when the hole's covered for a short period of time. I notice they are even more relaxed about it all when the hole's covered and I feed at the same time. They eat, by the time they're done eating I'm usually done messing with the nest.

But when I mess with eggs and babies when the hole's not covered they get a lot more upset and want to protect the nest. In attacking me and protecting the nest a lot of times they end up breaking eggs or hurting babies or attacking babies outright (transference aggression?).

You can take the babies out of the nest if you want. I wouldn't do it for more than about 5 minutes at a time. Also - birds can't really count (or so it seems when I mess with babies) so if there's several in the clutch if you take one out at a time they really don't seem to notice.