broody hen with chicks due any day-I have questions :)

[turtlemamameg]

So this is day 22, no chicks yet. (Incubation is 21 days, right?)

I have her in a neighbors empty chicken coop, seems secure. I checked on her today and when I peeked underneath, I saw a peice of an eggshell, but no chick. It is possible that the peice of eggshell had been there since the beginning as we moved her over in the middle of the night and I did not inspect the brooding box. My big worry is that she ate her. I know that is not common...especially since she is such a nice hen, buff orpington, docile.

Other than this oddity, I have a couple of questions.

Do I need to have chick mash and a shallow feeder before they hatch? I worry that if she did hatch a chick and knew that there was no way of feeding it, she might kill it herself?

I cannot get to a feed store for a couple of days, so I was thinking of putting some of her food in a blender until I could get there. Would that be okay? I will, however, put a shallow feeder in tomorrow.

Thanks for your input. Peace.

 

[Den in Penn]

It would probably have to be close to starvation herself before she would kill a chick because there is no food. You could feed the adults feed made fine. For a couple of days in a pinch. Corn meal and oat meal would be good. It might be something else got the chick. A lot of things can use a small meal like that.