We have learned that chicken eggs take 21 days to hatch. We know that our Silkie hen, Beulah Dean, sat on a group of about 20 eggs for 33 days, to no avail. The eggs not only didn't hatch, they began to explode under her. Then she sat on a second set of eggs for 21 days and hatched one little chick out of 13 eggs.
We rejoiced with the arrival of that one sweet blond chick.
Have you ever heard of hens suffering from postpartum depression? I believe that Beulah Dean's total of 54 days on a nest caused her to suffer from a hormonal imbalance. When I first saw her stomping on the chick I thought it was an accident. I pulled the chick to safety in the nest. Beulah Dean immediately began stomping the chick again, so I removed it to the safety of a box in the house. Beulah Dean went crazy looking for her chick and began a rampage, breaking the eggs of Curly, a hen sitting on eggs in the nest next to her.
In a bad moment of becoming a bleeding heart, I believed the best place for this chick was with her mother. I returned the chick to the nest. Crazy Beulah Dean finished her off. It was a sad day. The biological parent is not always the best parent.
Oh my!!! How sad is that. I have heard that they've killed chicks before, but for you to see her stomping....good grief!!!Well, better luck next time. Take care and have an excellent week.
ReplyDeleteRenae
Beulah Dean should have to stand trial for this atrocious murder!!
ReplyDeleteBig Darrell can be the presiding judge.
That poor chick never had a chance.
We just got some baby chicks. They are SO cute!!
One died overnight, but the other three are perky.
I have no idea what we will do with them when they get bigger, but I suppose we can give them to our friends who have chickens. I'm afraid if we let them run lose in the yard, our neighbor's cats will eat them.