Life on the booming grounds: good news and bad news on prairie chick hatching

First, the good news! There are three nests whose eggs have already hatched. There is not an exact count on how many new prairie chickens we have added to our APCNWR family but I would estimate at least 20 chicks. The chicks that have hatched so far will not be brood boxed. The fencing surrounding the hen and her newborn chicks are opened and the brood is allowed to leave to catch insects on their own. However because of circumstance we are going out tonight to place a large mesh box on top of 2 nesting hens and their eggs. These hens and chicks will be fed insects and seeds regularly in their brood box for a couple of weeks. I was able to go into a fence and take a picture of a prairie chick. note: I had to take the picture from far away, there was only one chick out from under its mother- i circled it.


Prairie chick-a couple of days old!

Now some unfortunate news... Upon inspecting another nest, Mike found an egg that had partially hatched but was quickly invaded by fire ants. All but one other egg from the same nest had hatched. The mother and the other successfully hatched chick had moved out of the fenced-in area. We brought the partially hatched egg to the truck and decided to open it. The chick was still barely alive and had severe wounds from the fire ants. I counted at least 10 ants outside and inside the egg. I held the little chick in front of the warm heater vent through the entire 25 min ride back to headquarters. We placed the chick inside the egg incubator and I brought it back to my house. It is very weak. I am responsible for keeping the incubator at a temperature of about 90-95 degrees overnight.