Which Came First?

20 years ago

Greetings all,

I have a chicken/egg question for those on this message board. About a week and a half ago my wife was at a horse show. While leaving, she stopped at the barn at the show to ask a question. It turns out that while she was stopped a chicken flew into her trailer, which she didn't discover until she got back to her barn. She returned the chicken to its owners, but discovered that it had laid an egg in the hay net.

Since we have about 8 acres in a very rural area, we thought it might be fun to try to raise a chicken, and have placed the egg in a cardboard box with some towels and heating pad on low which seems to keep the inside of the box at around 95-98 deg F.

My questions are: First, Am I insane?

How do I tell whether the egg is fertilized and developing, vs. dead and slowly cooking?

Do I need to do any thing else to improved its odds of hatching?

If it does hatch, does one lone chick have any chance of living or thriving?

What the heck do chicks eat? I am not going to chew up and spit out worms! :-)

Thanks for any help or advice you can offer.

-Bob

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Comments (5)

brendan_of_bonsai
20 years ago
Yes; Candle the eggs with a powerful light in a dark room once a week to check for a developing ebriyo; increse the humidity in the box; not much, keep it company and it may do alright; feed is available, they allso eat weeds and bugs.
velvet_sparrow
20 years ago
It might work, stranger things have happened!

You need to do some online research on how to make your own incubator. There are plenty of sites. Eggs require heat + humidity to hatch, and you need to turn the eggs two or three times a day. Also, if you candle the egg, decides it's fertile and it hatches, be ready with a brooder box for the chick--a cardboard box with a regular desk lamp for a heat source does fine. My chicken info site is here, the hens & chicks section will help you most but you should read the whole thing to really learn more about chickens quickly:

http://home.earthlink.net/~velvetsparrow/VSChick.htm

Chickens are flock animals and must have company--if not other chickens, than YOU. If you raise a lone chick be prepared to have a chicken as a pet. *L*

Chickens are omnivores like you and I, and like you and I, what's healthy for us is healthy for them. Raw meat and chocolate are non-no's for chickens (raw meat carries parasites and bacteria, chocolate is toxic), and some garden plants are toxic--do an online search for 'plants toxic to birds' and you'll see scads of sites.

Besides chick starter or grow mash, baby chicks love things like diced tomatos, diced grapes, raw corn on the cob, live mealworms (no pre-chewing required), scrambled eggs, etc.

Baby chicks are GREAT fun and chickens make surprisingly wonderful pets. If you have any questions please feel free to email me. :)

Velvet ~:>
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lunchwithdeb
20 years ago
Great advice so far. You really don't want the chick to imprint on you and only you. It needs a buddy. They are so very, very social. Not at all like a cat!

You could get another baby animal, a duck or a kitten, whatever. Starting any babies together makes for a nice friendship. Good luck.
bob_cville
Original Author
20 years ago
Thanks for the info. I'll try candling this evening to see whether it is developing, and if so I'll probably be back with more questions.

-Bob
mamacotti
20 years ago
Several will be much easier than one.

If you get some, be careful, because they are very addictive! And yes, "veiwing chairs" are a necessity!

Suzie