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Australia
I ran away from teaching to the country to grow veggies. There are also some chooks and a pair of troublesome goats who were so much trouble they had to go! My simple green life isn't always as simple or as green as I'd like...but I keep trying!

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Almost seven


We have five little peeping chicks!
Four are black with variations and one white.
The white one is probably one of Jenny's own
as she is a bared leghorn.
Jenny didn't notice when I popped the first one back.

Another hatched but died soon after.
It was covered in egg yolk.
the remaining egg sac is absorbed into the chick's body.
This provides nutrition in the first couple of days
and is why the hen often doesn't begin to teach them to eat
straight away.
Either the yolk was not absorbed or the chick was
injured during hatching.

This morning, Jenny was still steadfastly sitting
on her nest, more than 40 hours since the first hatching.
I thought it was wise to remove the 
remaining eggs so she could get on with being a mum.

I checked, none of them was viable.
One had begun to hatch but hadn't made it.
Below are some pictures of the chick.
It is amazing how well packed they are.
(But don't scroll down if you feel sqeamish
about such things)





This one shows the egg tooth.

This is the correct positioning is with the head under the right wing.
There isn't much room to move.  Just a bit of scratching with
the egg tooth to break through (it had done this).


So little.!


Almost

9 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing, and congratulations... so cute, hope they all do well.

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  2. How amazing! Great pictures.

    You make me want a rooster now so that my girls can have their own babies!

    I hope they do well!!!

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  3. So amazing that they grow so perfect in that little egg.

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  4. Good post and great photos Hazel. Thanks also for the interesting link in the previous post.

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  5. So sad Hazel, but fascinating at the same time. Thanks for sharing the amazing pictures.

    L

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  6. Great photos Hazel! It made me smile this morning and as you've said it's amazing how packed they are until they break out of the egg. Design of nature, clever eh!

    Cute little chicks too :)

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  7. Great photos Hazel! Chickens are so beautiful - I hope their mother thinks so too.
    HDW

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  8. This is Nature at its best - and its cruellest. Survival of the fittest begins even before birth (or hatching, as the case may be).

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  9. Thanks some, really graphic photos I wont look at an egg the same way ever again.

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