time for a bump

my hen laid five eggs starting on 11/29/09. The first egg just hatched this morning, and she is sitting on it. Will that hurt the baby? and when will the parents start feeding the baby? and i read some where to check crop for seeds to see if the baby is being fed, is that the poop?

It will not hurt the baby. The crop is the part of the chick that holds the food before it is digested. It is just below the throat. It will have a whitish milky substance in it. You can see it from the outside. No need to pick up or touch the chick. I am sure your mom is feeding her baby and will feed any more that hatch. The will be fine with her sitting on them, that is how she is keeping them warm.

It the daddy in the picture. He should be helping by feeding her and maybe even feeding the baby.

go to this thread:
http://www.wineintro.com/forum/ubbthread...ggs_#Post391603
the first pictue of the two babies - look at the baby on top (the one with the black eyes) and you can clearly see the crop, with food in it. It is not seed, it is a milky substance that the mom produces from seed for the baby.

Thank you for the info. I just watched her feed the baby and seen the crop filling up around the babies throat. The dad is the cage with her and the nestbox is attached to the front of the cage. I have seen him feed her but she is always in the nestbox when im around so i don't know if he has fed the baby yet. When ever im in the room and the baby is chirping, he is in the cage running around trying to find out where the little chirping is coming from. When is the perfect time to take out the nestbox?

after the babies leave the nestbox on their own

i heard you can start to hold them for about 10 minutes after they are 2 weeks old

bump

thankyou it was help full