A miracle within a miracle in a miracle...I mentioned in a post a couple weeks ago there was one last story to tell, the last of four eggs that hatched a week after they were due. Scheduled to hatch on February 14th along with 4 more eggs, this little fella decided to take his time. I had two more hatch groups with the last one being Feb 16th. Since I had 3 eggs that were past due, I added the egg to the group. Out of the blue the chicks started to hatch. Sat, Feb 18th three hatched and one more to go, checked on the egg around noon, finally could see the little beak...as I went to feed my pheasants, the hens started a riot, turned around and I see one of my hens running like crazy and all the other hens behind her, as I get close I see the hen with running with the egg on her beak, I guess as momma went for some water, little trouble maker hear the pipping, saw the chick started pecking at it, tasted blood and she thought she hit the jackpot.
Took the chick away, he was bleeding and gasping for air, my housemate told me to just put it under one of the hens with chicks, so I did...two hours go by, check on the chick, momma pushed it out from under her and now laid in the open almost gone. Picked it up, saw half the shelf gone, membrane was drying and sticking to him...I don't know what pushed me to do it, but didn't think it, I just started chipping the rest of the shelf off, as I did that he began to move, as he move the membrane began to tear, finally out, put him under hen again, to allow him to dry...she didn't let him do that neither...rushed him inside, turned heater on and start drying him off. All dried put him under a different hen and there he stayed. Two days later, checking on the chicks, noticed two missing, check under hen, OMG, OMG...one got tangled in her feathers and choked to death as I picked up the hen, a pip again, it's this little fella, tangled and gasping for air, again. Made it back to life as I blew air into his beak. Two days later, had to removed all the chicks from this great mom, but chicks kept getting tangled even after I trimmed her feathers. Friday, Feb 24th, chicks got coccidiosis, threated them, the other 14 are eating and drinking, but not this one, of course he happens to be the smallest one too...boiled eggs and had to put mashed egg yolk in one hand and hold him with the other one in order for him to eat, if I didn't hold him, he would just cry, I held him and he would eat. Well, today he finally went to back to his chick starter food and ate all on his own...I'm still keeping a very close eye on all my chicks.
Took the chick away, he was bleeding and gasping for air, my housemate told me to just put it under one of the hens with chicks, so I did...two hours go by, check on the chick, momma pushed it out from under her and now laid in the open almost gone. Picked it up, saw half the shelf gone, membrane was drying and sticking to him...I don't know what pushed me to do it, but didn't think it, I just started chipping the rest of the shelf off, as I did that he began to move, as he move the membrane began to tear, finally out, put him under hen again, to allow him to dry...she didn't let him do that neither...rushed him inside, turned heater on and start drying him off. All dried put him under a different hen and there he stayed. Two days later, checking on the chicks, noticed two missing, check under hen, OMG, OMG...one got tangled in her feathers and choked to death as I picked up the hen, a pip again, it's this little fella, tangled and gasping for air, again. Made it back to life as I blew air into his beak. Two days later, had to removed all the chicks from this great mom, but chicks kept getting tangled even after I trimmed her feathers. Friday, Feb 24th, chicks got coccidiosis, threated them, the other 14 are eating and drinking, but not this one, of course he happens to be the smallest one too...boiled eggs and had to put mashed egg yolk in one hand and hold him with the other one in order for him to eat, if I didn't hold him, he would just cry, I held him and he would eat. Well, today he finally went to back to his chick starter food and ate all on his own...I'm still keeping a very close eye on all my chicks.
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