non dominate hen sitting?

Necklace

Songster
Dec 4, 2014
149
29
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I have a question.. my dominate hen had two babies about a month ago now.... but now one of my other hens is getting broody.. she has been sitting on her eggs for almost 3 weeks now it seems.. so it should not be long.. What I am afraid of is that the dominate hen will kill the new babies since they are not hers.. the broody hen that is hatching them is very passive and I don't see her standing up against the queen..

Should I take the eggs and finish hatching them myself? there is no way to separate them.. I have been through that before.. :/ I just don't want them to hatch and get attacked and killed..

I am still pretty new to the Broody hen experience my dominate hens babies were the first ones we have hatched so I still am learning a lot of things..
 
I have a question.. my dominate hen had two babies about a month ago now.... but now one of my other hens is getting broody.. she has been sitting on her eggs for almost 3 weeks now it seems.. so it should not be long.. What I am afraid of is that the dominate hen will kill the new babies since they are not hers.. the broody hen that is hatching them is very passive and I don't see her standing up against the queen..

Should I take the eggs and finish hatching them myself? there is no way to separate them.. I have been through that before.. :/ I just don't want them to hatch and get attacked and killed..

I am still pretty new to the Broody hen experience my dominate hens babies were the first ones we have hatched so I still am learning a lot of things..

I also have a hen like the one you describe; the absolute bottom of the pecking order. When she hatches new chicks I bring hen and chicks indoors for a week. By the end of the week the chick are mobile enough to run from danger. Most hens will not chase after small chicks and intentionally kill them. Most give a peck and a short dash to make the chicks flee.
 
ok... The hen has abandoned the eggs.. guess she got tired of sitting on them.. :/ they are close to hatching.. I held one and felt it peck a few times inside the shell.. "I loved it" :) I do not have an incubator... so I am trying to figure out how to work this.. I have a heating pad that I layered with a few thin towels because even on the lowest setting the heating pad was just to hot.. I am going to keep the heating pad going and rotate them and hope for the best...

How often should I rotate them? and can anyone think of something else that might work? :/

I do have a heating light I could put them on some padding and keep the heating lamp on them but I don't' want to cook them...
 
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ok... The hen has abandoned the eggs.. guess she got tired of sitting on them.. :/   they are close to hatching..  I held one and felt it peck a few times inside the shell.. "I loved it"  :)        I do not have an incubator...  so I am trying to figure out how to work this..  I have a heating pad that I layered with a few thin towels because even on the lowest setting the heating pad was just to hot..   I am going to keep the heating pad going and rotate them and hope for the best...   

How often should I rotate them?   and can anyone think of something else that might work?  :/

I do have a heating light I could put them on some padding and keep the heating lamp on them but I don't' want to cook them... 


The temp. should be 100-102 F. You're the second person today that has posted about a hen abandoning the nest that I have read. Makes me realize how lucky I am to have dependable broody hens, Rotation at this point is more an effort to keep the eggs the same temp. through out; as often as you can until you have something more reliable to provide heat. Good luck.
 
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