Broody hen keeps leaving eggs at 20 days!

[Kaitlyn1919]

Hey everyone!
I have a hen that went broody over a month ago. We bought her some fertilized eggs to sit on, as at the time, we didn’t have a rooster. Now we have a rooster and the chickens are producing fertilized eggs.
So the eggs we bought her to sit on, all but 2 hatched 5 days ago. I have discarded the rest as they either stopped developing or were dead eggs. 2-3 days into her sitting on the eggs we bought her, she stole 4 eggs from our other chicken. Since they weren’t far off from the others, we marked them and let her sit on them.
Here’s where the trouble comes in, these 2-3 chicks (I took one out that wasn’t viable) are set to hatch any day now. I checked on them last night and they were all big moving babies. Now today, she keeps leaving the nest because the 2 chicks that hatched 5 days ago keep hopping out of the brooder box. So she gets up to protect them. Twice now I caught the eggs cold, put the chicks back in the box and she goes back to sitting on the eggs.
Now I have a question.. this poor momma has been sitting on eggs for probably 6 weeks now and definitely needs a break and doesn’t seem like she can keep up with the chicks and the eggs she’s sitting on. I have another broody hen sitting on eggs, she’s on day 12. Should I put the 2-3 viable eggs under the other broody hen and let her hatch them? I have everything set up inside to bring chicks inside. So if I took the chicks and her eggs, hopefully it will get her out of her broodiness and back to being a healthy chicks . She’s definitely lost weight and her comb is small and pale.
After going cold twice, would these poor babies still be alive? I could candle them tonight but I was hoping to leave them be so they could hatch.
Sorry for the long post! Thanks!!

 

[Tclloyd0812]

I would definitely let the other hen sitting on eggs have the 3 other eggs that are supposed to hatch soon. The one that already has baby chicks hatched out feels like she needs to raise the chicks and sit on the eggs. She can't do it all, and I'm sure she definitely needs a break. If she sits for too long you're risking health problems and parasites. I think the eggs need to go to the other hen that is sitting, and she'll either keep sitting on the ones she has already or she'll just raise the chicks that hatch from the 3 eggs that are about to hatch. When a hen goes broody, her hormones completely take over, and if the mama hen is already caring for chicks she may not realize the other 3 eggs need to be sat on all of the time as well.

 

[Tclloyd0812]

Forgot to mention, once the chicks hatch under the other broody mama you may want to just bring those in. Otherwise, you'll run into the same exact problem because she is only on day 12 with the other eggs.

 

[Skyle]

If the other chicks are 5 days old she is just doing the right thing taking them out to teach them how to find food, dustbath, etc.
You can try putting the eggs due to hatch under the other broody, but if they hatch she will probably leave the nest when they are few days old, and the eggs she's currently sitting on will be abandoned. I'd advise you to not put the day old chicks with the mother that already has 5 days old chicks, they will be too young to keep up with the others and she may not accept them since she already has older chicks.
If you have a heat lamp you can pick up the chicks as they hatch under the second broody, put them in a brooder and raise the chicks on your own, so she will continue to incubate the other eggs. The other option is putting these eggs in an incubator, if you have one, then raise the chicks on your own in a brooder.

 

[Kaitlyn1919]

Thanks guys! We had originally taken the chicks away from that hen when they first hatched and brought them inside but then she kept getting off the nest looking for them. So we ended up putting them back to keep her sitting on the eggs and also encourage the others to hatch. At that time she was sitting on 12 more eggs, as I said earlier, most of them ended up being duds. Those 2 were early birds and hatched at day 18-19. But now I guess they are just too big and curious to stay in the nest with her.
I hope the other 2-3 viable ones are still alive
I’m going to go bring them inside now. We have a brooder box set up inside already

 

[JacinLarkwell]

What you can do is give the eggs to day 12 mama. As they hatch, take them inside. But day 12 mama may or may not continue to sit on the early eggs after eating chicks hatch under her