What went wrong? - what can be learnt?

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Ring0Neck
Posts: 1714
Joined: Thu May 22, 2008 2:24 am
Location: Brisbane QLD AUS

What went wrong? - what can be learnt?

Post by Ring0Neck »


Here's this season's dilema, hope we can learn s-thing from it.

young 2012 bred Hen on 3 fertile eggs
first chick hatched, did a nest inspection i could see the chick has been bitten/eaten, the wings and right leg quiet badly.

I removed the male as i suspected (i was right) he is the one doing it.
I kept watch on the hen and she kept sitting on the 2 remaining eggs.
Second hatched no more biting however the 1st chick died. I moved the alive and well chick to a pair hatching at the same time.

Kept watch on the hen, she seemed to be sitting fine on the last egg all day yesterday.
This morning i noticed she was out and not going back in.
checked the egg was cold, moved to another foster hen but i was too late... 4 hours later confirmed DIS.

So what did i do wrong? the obvious now is that i should have removed the last egg also. I would have done so if i would have noticed the hen not sitting on it but she was.
There would have been a big burden on the foster as she would have had 7 chicks to take care of and i did not want to do that. As i said, all day yesterday the hen was sitting fine, it was only this morning after feeding that the hen did not return to nest.




I'm an Explorer
10% luck, 20% skill, 15% concentrated power of will, 50% pleasure, 5% pain$ and a 100% reason ..I just gotta know
Skyes_crew
Posts: 1946
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2013 12:49 pm
Location: Hawaii

Re: What went wrong? - what can be learnt?

Post by Skyes_crew »

I know birds can't literally count...but once the one chick died and you took away the live chick, she may have realized that the majority of her clutch was gone and gave up at that point. Maybe if the live chick had stayed on until the last egg hatched she would have continued to sit. But it's all speculation of course. Only the hen knows :wink:
I am owned by my birds...and I wouldn't have it any other way :D

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Johan S
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Joined: Wed Mar 30, 2011 1:24 am
Location: Pretoria, South Africa

Re: What went wrong? - what can be learnt?

Post by Johan S »

Ring0Neck wrote:
I removed the male as i suspected (i was right) he is the one doing it.
I kept watch on the hen and she kept sitting on the 2 remaining eggs.
Second hatched no more biting however the 1st chick died. I moved the alive and well chick to a pair hatching at the same time.
This is what I would have done differently. I would have left that chick with the mother and egg. The chance of the hen abandoning the nest with an egg and a chirping chick in it, is much smaller (usually). The hen would have coped fine with raising two youngsters alone, esp. if you have an infertile egg that can be placed with the chicks to keep them warm while the hen feeds. Maybe she could even have fostered another one of the other clutch of six later on. And ol' grandpa Ben could have assisted the young hen where necessary, esp. in the first week. :D

Unfortunately, this type of thing isn't uncommon for 1 year old hens. Maybe that's the first thing you did wrong? We all know we shouldn't breed with them, but sometimes the temptation is too big. I'm not judging, I've done it myself. And observed similar behaviour. And learnt the lesson. And you asked. :wink: I actually find it rather interesting that two year old hens also with no experience yet, usually shows much stronger maternal instincts than one year old hens.
Ring0Neck
Posts: 1714
Joined: Thu May 22, 2008 2:24 am
Location: Brisbane QLD AUS

Re: What went wrong? - what can be learnt?

Post by Ring0Neck »

Johan,
Unfortunately, this type of thing isn't uncommon for 1 year old hens. Maybe that's the first thing you did wrong? We all know we shouldn't breed with them, but sometimes the temptation is too big. I'm not judging, I've done it myself. And observed similar behaviour. And learnt the lesson. And you asked. :wink: I actually find it rather interesting that two year old hens also with no experience yet, usually shows much stronger maternal instincts than one year old hens

I agree :D and yes temptation :lol: violet edged x blue pied :?

I agree about me leaving the chick and egg in there however i gave the little injured one a good chance of survival yet i found him rather squashed, as you said inexperience from the hen, so i said i better save 1 then none.
If the hen would have been mature i would have left the young there, obviously.
I knew the risk of the hen leaving the egg now is high but it was monitored the whole day as i was prepared to remove the last egg but there was no sign/change in behaviour and was sitting fine.
Almost certain the male did it, yet i could not be sure its not the hen and i would have kicked myself if i would have found the second one dead/bitten the next day. so i took what i thought was the safest option that i could calculate in that moment.


Sky, I was not concerned why the hen left the last egg, it is due to inexperience and adding the events in the last 24h i was not surprised that she did, but rather how i could have handled the situation differently. I thought i had all options covered ...
I'm an Explorer
10% luck, 20% skill, 15% concentrated power of will, 50% pleasure, 5% pain$ and a 100% reason ..I just gotta know
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