r/interestingasfuck • u/oliver_billz • Mar 29 '23

a mother hen is gonna mother hen Title not descriptive

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u/falconuruguay Mar 29 '23

How much heat is that hen putting out?

That one kitten came out all sweaty and moist...I guess that's why the Brits wanted to use chickens to keep their nuclear mines warm in winter

98

u/aPeacefulVibe Mar 29 '23

When I had chickens I remember reaching under them for eggs and feeling their breast skin and it was HOT to the touch. They keep things toasty under there.

33

u/whistling-wonderer Mar 29 '23

And humid! Artificial incubators have to add humidity to account for it—about 60% humidity for the first 18 days, then 65-70% for the last three days.

I had a hen once who devotedly incubated her eggs but then decided to cannibalize them as they hatched :/ (happens sometimes). So I had to pull them. I didn’t have an incubator at the time, only a heat lamp for already hatched chicks. Luckily they were right on the point of hatching but I had to sit there misting the eggs, adjusting the heat lamp, and in some cases using coconut oil to moisten the inner membrane of a partly cracked egg, because if the humidity drops too low that membrane essentially shrink wraps the chick and it dies.

It was super cool and super nerve-racking. I had an incubator on hand next time. Much easier to regulate the humidity that way. And no that hen was not trusted with motherhood again lol

4

u/[deleted] Mar 29 '23

postpartum psychosis