My little buff hen has patiently sat on the Guinea eggs for close to 30 days and four keats hatched out yesterday.  They all looked fine when I brought them inside and put them under the heat lamp though two were rather sluggish.  I assumed they were just hatched out and were tired and sleepy like the baby chickens I am use to raising.

I went back an hour or so to check the temperature and they were fine but after four hours or so, two were dead.  I was so sad.  Their perfectly formed bodies just lying there limp.  It was a mystery to me why they died.

Now, when I brought them in and put them on the towel in the bottom of the box, I did notice maybe five or six ants had been on them.  I am wondering if they could have bitten them enough to put poison in their systems.  I know when ants bite me, a get a nasty pimple with white pus.  If I get too many bites at one time, I actually feel sick and run a low grade fever.   My body is a whole lot larger than a chick’s so I can only imagine how bad a baby chick could feel with multiple bites.

As soon as it is daylight, I am going out there to check on the eggs and bring the keats inside if any are hatched.  Maybe I can get them before the ants start moving around.  With chicken feeders filled with food, it is difficult to keep the ants away from the chicken yards.  You would think the chickens would eat the ants.  I guess when the egg hatches and there is material left in the egg shell, it attracts the ants to the nest where the momma hen is sitting on the chicks.  With four hatching at one time, it could be difficult for the momma to dispose of the egg shells.  Sometimes, part of the egg shell is eaten or missing before I realize a chick is hatched out.

Well, I am thinking about getting outside and working on getting my chicken houses ready for cold weather but that is another post so I will end this one now and start that one.