Sorry I haven't checked back in, things have been hyper busy. We ended up with 12 chicks: 2 Porcelain Belgian d'Uccles, 1 Black Mottled Belgian d'Uccle, 1 Black Silkie, 1 Cuckoo Silkie, 1 Blue Giant Cochin, 2 Lemon Blue Giant Cochins, 2 Golden Laced Giant Cochins and 2 Salmon Faverolles. As for my suppliers, I got all of my eggs of ebay this year. The breeders are extremely nice, down-to-earth folks who replied with friendly emails, bent over backwards to please and in most cases put in an extra egg or two. They also wrapped the eggs extremely well and marked the boxes as to the contents. I did continue to have a low hatch rate this year, even for shipped eggs. I incubated 25 eggs in each incubator, and had 5 hatch in one incubator, 7 in the other. At least hatching eggs by mail this time tells me that it isn't my flock that's to blame. I opened the unhatched eggs, and found eggs at all stages of development, literally from just-started to full-term chicks. They seemed to be spread out equally, too--I didn't see a higher percentage of chicks at certain stages. And both incubators reflected the same results. So I really don't know WHAT is going on with the incubators. One is 10+ years old, the other 2 years old and are identical. I am following instructions religiously, temp and humidity are maintained correctly. From now one I'm not going to incubate more than a dozen or so eggs at a time and see how that goes. The incubator thing is making me crazy. Anyone else who hatches eggs in an incubator--how many eggs do you set at once? Have you ever loaded your incubator to it's maximum number? Velvet ~:>

Thanks for replying. They all seem to be Ok. 2 still don't have feathers or fuzz on their rumps so I still have a heat lamp on them until they get bigger. We figured out the other one must have been burnt by the edge of a heat lamp because of the shape of the darkened feathers. She is white so upon closer examination it appears as tho' the fuzz/feathers were/are singed. No skin was damaged or burnt so as long as her feathers grow in, no one will ever know. I did name her Bernadette, it seemed fitting?! Thanks again!

Hi again...that's what make chickens so challenging at times. You just can't always tell what's going to bother them. Moving anything they consider theirs or forgeting to give treats when it becomes part of their routine will result in disgruntled behavior (my jersey giant does a squawking dance). All my chickens molted between five and six months old. They are now five years old and still show mild stress when they molt. the new ducklings are the latest stressor. They were horrified at first, now some weeks later they come and visit them during the day (the ducklings are still penned). They rule the cats, and only get upset when the neighbor's dogs charge the fence at them. If you can control the possible hazards in their envioronment, they seem to to adjust to all else themselves. Have fun with it!

You need find a wildlife rehabilitator in your area and seek their assistance. They will be the best to advise you and may be able to provide someone to help you replace the chick into the nest area. Most raptor parents will feed a chick that leaves the nest early even if they are on the ground or a nearby location.