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Posted by Paul
on 9/27/2009, 7:35 am, in reply to "Re: Caroline"
166.214.211.198
This question gets a lot of mileage, Caroline. I have always leaned on the side of the hen and said no. The hen will never help one out of the shell and in reality, if it isn`t strong enough to get out of the shell on it`s own, it will always be a weakling and prone to sickness.
Many people will dissagree with that and help one out. These are mostly folks with tender hearts that are hatching in an incubator and, for some reason, blame themselves because they didn`t get the humidity right or something.
The main reason I take a hard line on this is that, over the years, my passion has become gamefowl. These are the athletes of the chicken world, beautifull and unconquerable. They are bred for strength and ability. I don`t fight my birds, but these attributes must be maintained, or they might as well go extinct, as many animal rights activists would prefer. So you can see that, in my breeding program and in my mind, there is no place for a chick that cannot get out of a shell on it`s own. It simply doesn`t have what it takes to be a healthy individual, or to make a strong breeder. Enough of my soapbox. Hope I, in some small way, answered your question.......P
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