Peanut's long and patient wait is over. The poults have hatched!
Friday, Peanut was heard making mama noises so we knew the time was near.
Saturday, cheeping was heard, poults had hatched.
Sunday, fluffy little poults were observed.
Big Tom was clearly hoping Peanut was ready to come down!
Monday (today) I was home all day and checked on the little family frequently. We were getting concerned because she hadn't brought the poults down from the nest for food and water. I put a small waterer and some food up near the the nest.
By afternoon chore time we decided it was time to move Peanut and the poults down to the floor. What we found were four fluffy poults, one poult who was just barely hatched and wet, two eggs that were duds, one dead chick and one intact egg that was cheeping. We put the five poults down on the floor of the hayshed and left Peanut alone. She soon came and settled down over the just hatched one with the rest of the chicks.
I brought the cheeping egg to the house and keeping it warm and moist gently assisted it to hatch. It needed a warm place to dry off so it went into to the greenhouse for a bit.
The poult quickly dried in that very warm environment.
After and hour or so, I took it back to Peanut. I left it as close to her as I could get it.
Did we do the right thing making Peanut get down from that nest? In hindsight, probably not. Would that last poult have hatched on it's own? No way to know.
And that's the end of the story for tonight. Will that little one survive? We'll let you know next week! Until then, be well friends!