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Annabel

Half way through Day 22 - no pip on Marans egg (others all hatched)

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Hi all,

I am hatching out 4 eggs (that were originally 9, but 5 were infertile) under a brilliant, proven broody.

Buff Orp, Easter Egger and 2 x BC Marans.

Yesterday morning (24 hours ago) the Buff hatched, then 4 hours later the Easter Egger. A whole 24 hours after that, one Marans has hatched but on the last egg we do not have any pips.

Around 12 hours ago I had heard chirping from the Marans that has just hatched and a tap, tap, tapping from the remaining unhatched one.  I cannot hear any tapping or chirping from that one now.

When I placed my finger on it, it was not as hot as it normally is, almost like our broody had left the nest or didn't have it against her skin so it had cooled down slightly (just not roasting hot, like she has been keeping them).  She has not left the nest, but I feel she may do soon, to take the chicks that were born 24 hours ago to the food and drink station the other side of the nesting box (she's in a closed up Omlet Cube).

I am reluctant to candle the egg incase I disturb the chick's positioning and I also know Marans shells are hard to get through but with the other Marans out and no pipping from this one at all- any ideas what I should do if anything?

Thanks again,

Annabel

I also do not have an incubator as she has never failed.

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After 24 hours the broody will abandon any remaining unhatched to get the hatched chicks to food and water. I presume the reason the last egg has gone cold is because she has left the nest? Without an incubator there is nothing you can do really, although I did hear a story of someone carrying eggs in her bra to keep them warm!

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In the end, I decided to candle the egg and saw no movement.  No vibrations and no chirping.  I very gently removed some of the shell where the air cell was and could see the chick wrapped in the membrane.

No movement at all so gently removed a small piece and the chick sadly was dead.  Cold (not very cold obv as the hen had still kept it a little warm).

It was half way through day 22 and the abdomen still had a pea sized open space where the yolk had almost been absorbed but not quite.

Incredibly sad.  Really heartbreaking.  

Once I had removed the egg, the hen was up teaching her three chicks to eat which was lovely to see.  She also left the nest for the first time in almost 2 days and did the most almight, sloppy poo that stank.  I think she must have been relieved as well.

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Well here are my three fluffy bundles of joy.

the lady I bought the hatching eggs from told me her chickens were all in separate pens and the marans and buff Orpington would be pure breeds.

the yellow one hatched from an egg marked Buff Orpington - but I think there is a welsummer cross in there.

the Easter Egger (black one with dots) is a marans cockerel to a green Easter egger hen.

the grey one was supposed to be a pure bred black copper marans but it is grey.

I asked her about this having sent her photos of the chicks but she said her chickens couldn’t possibly have mixed up (though she has many breeds including welsummers).

i don’t really care as I love them but I’m curious about the breed mixes- any ideas?

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The top chick is the 'pure bred' BCM.

The next one is the 'pure bred' Buff Orp.

And the black one at the bottom is my Easter Egger.

Not too sure on names yet as my girls are deciding but we think the grey one will be Willow. the black one Polly and the yellow one 'Fluffy'!  Of course if they are boys we will rethink!

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It's way too early to think about breeds and standards. They will need to lose their fluff and start on proper feathers. It's normal for buff Orpington's to show some darkening as a chick (and desirable or they will be too light) but if it remains in the final feathers they won't make the show pen (we used to breed them). They are so cute through. It's been a long time since we hatched and then it was so hectic we didn't get time to enjoy them.

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I didn't know Buffs could have some dark patches as chicks.  I haven't actually seen any pictures when I've googled Buffs as chicks, as any of them being anything but totally yellow (the lady also said all hers which she has hatched this week were pure yellow)- so that is interesting.

Obv doesn't matter to us as we won't be showing them (just family pets).

But thanks for the info and expanding my chicken knowledge!  I'm still hoping that my specialist subject will appear in a pub quiz!

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I'm not 100% sure that is a 100% PB Buff Orp either.  Beantree is right, it is too early to tell, but I can see a bit of an eye stripe as well as the dark patches.  You will need to wait till he/she grows some real feathers, but it may be that the pen of 'pure' BOs had some tinkering, which may be in the past, so the seller wouldn't necessarily know.  I had a BO bantam who was several generations after somebody else's BO x wyandotte experiment.  She looked exactly like a BO, but she had a small bit of black peppering in some of her tail feathers.  If you didn't know her heritage you would assume she was a BO, just not up to standard.   If this chick does turn out not to be 100% what he/she should be, then I would let the breeder know.   

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On 6/12/2022 at 9:47 AM, Daphne said:

I'm not 100% sure that is a 100% PB Buff Orp either.  Beantree is right, it is too early to tell, but I can see a bit of an eye stripe as well as the dark patches.  You will need to wait till he/she grows some real feathers, but it may be that the pen of 'pure' BOs had some tinkering, which may be in the past, so the seller wouldn't necessarily know.  I had a BO bantam who was several generations after somebody else's BO x wyandotte experiment.  She looked exactly like a BO, but she had a small bit of black peppering in some of her tail feathers.  If you didn't know her heritage you would assume she was a BO, just not up to standard.   If this chick does turn out not to be 100% what he/she should be, then I would let the breeder know.   

To me, there looks to be some Welsummer in there with the eye stripes and the two darker chipmunk stripes down her back.  I'm quite excited to see what she turns out to be.  She eats like you wouldn't believe so I have no doubt she'll grow to be a big boy/girl.

The lady wasn't at all interested when I suggested that a cockerel might have got in from another pen or that there was something not totally Buff about her (in fact she suggested that I had hatched out a welsummer egg that she had also sent me and got confused- whereas I assured her that I cracked that one open on day 14 and it was infertile).  She was hatched out of a sandy coloured, one tone, smoth egg with BO written on it.

However, I will share a picture of the chick when it grows and gets it's new feathers in on this forum and with the lady as she may be interested to see.

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I think sometimes breeders think we are trying to pull a fast one when we aren't, we think that genuinely they would want to know.  I also think that some breeders are not totally scrupulous themselves.  It can be a minefield.  However, the bottom line is that you will have an attractive, hopefully healthy, bird, and we will all keep our fingers crossed its a hen!

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