Hen hatched an egg today

[Chicken6000]

Our hen hatched a little chick today, first of all let’s all say congrats!!!
Since both her and I are new to taking care and maintaining the new flock member, i need some help.
She’s currently in a nesting box with the little chick under her, she’s next to another nesting box occupied with another broody hen. I’m sure the one who hatched the egg won’t leave any time soon. I hate to break it to yall but she is also not in a coop, she’s in a milk crate outside… Altough it might not seem okay, we put bedding and what not to protect her and keep it nice. The broody hens are right next to our backyard door.
What do i do now?
Should I take her inside?
Will she feed the chick?
Will the chick leave the hen on its own?
How will the chick leave the hen

 

[DobieLover]

What do i do now?

Does she have any other eggs under her?
Has she been around other members of the flock during her incubation? She must have been going to get some food during the incubation so hopefully they've seen her regularly.

Should I take her inside?

If she's all done hatching she should be put into the coop with a nice fluffy dry nest in the corner of the coop floor. She'll take it from there. How large is your coop? How many birds?
Can you give her a semi secure space in the coop for nesting at night? She will be the first in at night and the first out in the morning.

Will she feed the chick?

She will feed the chick so you need to provide her and the rest of the flock with chick starter. If you have any active layers in the flock you need to put out a container of oyster shell for them to eat.

Will the chick leave the hen on its own?

No. When the hen has finished raising her chick she will wean it. It's not a pretty sight!

How will the chick leave the hen

When she gets weaned.

 

[Ridgerunner]

she is also not in a coop, she’s in a milk crate outside

Hens were hatching and raising chicks outside long before humans first domesticated them. Hens have been hiding nests and hatching outside ever since. Predators are a risk but most chicks hatched like that are OK. You just don't get any guarantees what will happen, good or bad.

What do i do now?

Are there other eggs? Are you sure the hatch is over. What I do is leave the hen alone. When she is ready she will bring the chick off of the nest. You don't have to do anything. I'd expect her to bring the chick off of the nest tomorrow or the day after.

What do your facilities look like? Do you lock your chickens up at night? It's a little harder to make suggestions since I don't know how you manage yours or what you have to work with.

It sounds like the chickens free range during the day. I'd lock that hen and chick up at night after she comes off of the nest so they are predator safe. If your chickens free range during the day I'd let the hen take care of the chick. Just put food and water where the chick can get to them and the hen will manage the rest.

 

[Chicken6000]

Hens were hatching and raising chicks outside long before humans first domesticated them. Hens have been hiding nests and hatching outside ever since. Predators are a risk but most chicks hatched like that are OK. You just don't get any guarantees what will happen, good or bad.


Are there other eggs? Are you sure the hatch is over. What I do is leave the hen alone. When she is ready she will bring the chick off of the nest. You don't have to do anything. I'd expect her to bring the chick off of the nest tomorrow or the day after.

What do your facilities look like? Do you lock your chickens up at night? It's a little harder to make suggestions since I don't know how you manage yours or what you have to work with.

It sounds like the chickens free range during the day. I'd lock that hen and chick up at night after she comes off of the nest so they are predator safe. If your chickens free range during the day I'd let the hen take care of the chick. Just put food and water where the chick can get to them and the hen will manage the rest.

Yes there are othe eggs, she’s currently still on them with the chick under her belly, they both slept together last night and it’s pretty spaceaus, we ended up moving her into a bigger area, it’s like a big nesting box same shape. Our city has like no predators so honestly we don’t worry too much about that, even at night, the most that has happened are squirrels trying to scare our chickens. Should I just put accsessable food and water for both her, the chick and the flock? What would happen if she doesn’t come out? I mean she still has eggs under her.

Here’s a photo of her and her baby chick

 

[Ridgerunner]

I've had all the eggs hatch within 16 hours of the first one hatching. I've had some drag out over 48 hours after the first. One time I had a chick hatch a day early, just before I went to bed. About 24 hours later I saw a couple of pips. When I woke up the nest morning all of the remaining 16 chicks had hatched. You just don't know how soon they will hatch. And of course, some eggs never hatch.

The hen and unhatched chicks talk to each other. The hen should know if others are on the way. If the eggs were all started at the same time all that are going to hatch should hatch before the hen has to take any chicks off to eat or drink. Since the chicks absorb the yolk before hatch they can go over 72 hours before they need to eat or drink.

I leave my hens alone and let them decide when to come off of the nest with the chicks. They know a lot more on what is going on with those other eggs than I do. I put food and water where the hen and chicks can get to them when she brings them off of the nest and try to stay out of the hen's way.

 

[Chicken6000]

I've had all the eggs hatch within 16 hours of the first one hatching. I've had some drag out over 48 hours after the first. One time I had a chick hatch a day early, just before I went to bed. About 24 hours later I saw a couple of pips. When I woke up the nest morning all of the remaining 16 chicks had hatched. You just don't know how soon they will hatch. And of course, some eggs never hatch.

The hen and unhatched chicks talk to each other. The hen should know if others are on the way. If the eggs were all started at the same time all that are going to hatch should hatch before the hen has to take any chicks off to eat or drink. Since the chicks absorb the yolk before hatch they can go over 72 hours before they need to eat or drink.

I leave my hens alone and let them decide when to come off of the nest with the chicks. They know a lot more on what is going on with those other eggs than I do. I put food and water where the hen and chicks can get to them when she brings them off of the nest and try to stay out of the hen's way.

So should I just keep an eye out for more chicks and let the hen raise the rest, if any, alone? What about the rest of the flock, what about the other broody hen trying to hatch eggs, should i worry about any of that?

 

[Ridgerunner]

So should I just keep an eye out for more chicks and let the hen raise the rest, if any, alone?

I don't know for sure what your facilities look like or some of your management methods. I don't know your goals. We are all unique in our own ways. That means different things work for different ones of us. I understand you want more precise info than this but I can't give it without knowing a lot more.

The way I would approach it would be to leave her alone until she brings that chick and any others that hatch off of the nest. Then clean up that nest. Get rid of any remaining eggs and the mess. Then you have a choice. You can leave her alone to take care of the chicks where she is or you can move her and the chicks to an area safe from predators. If the flock free ranges (which I think they do) I'd probably leave her alone during the day and make sure she and the chicks are locked up in a predator safe area at night.

What about the rest of the flock,

I can't give you any guarantees when dealing with living animals. I have never had a mature rooster even threaten young chicks. Others I trust on this forum say they have. I've never had a broody hen fail to protect her chicks against other flock members. Several others I trust on here say they have. Most of the problems seem to be when space is crowded but I can't say all were. I'm not there looking. As long as the broody hen has enough room to keep her chicks separated from the rest of the flock I don't worry about it. Sometimes the broody and chicks mingle some with the rest but most of the time she keeps them separated.

what about the other broody hen trying to hatch eggs

Good question. Usually this works out OK. Many people have multiple broody hens on their own nests or raising chicks and don't have problems. You see a lot of threads on here where that happens. But it doesn't always work out like that. Sometimes broody hens fight over the right to raise the chicks. A hen might abandon her nest and try to take over the other hen's nest when the chicks are hatching and pipping or even when the others are just walking around. Sometimes the hens work together to raise the chicks, sometimes they fight to see who gets to keep the chicks but the other nest is still abandoned.

I'll say it again. A lot of the time this works out fine, no problems. But to me this might be a good reason to separate the two broody hens until after the second one hatches and brings her chicks off of the nest. Either lock the hen and chick(s) in an enclosure the other hen cannot get into or fence the second broody where she cannot bother the other but still incubate and hatch her eggs.

Some people on this forum would just let it play out however it does and not do anything extra unless they saw something happening. Others would be freaked out by that broody not being locked up in Fort Knox to begin with. It comes down to your risk tolerance and I don't know where you stand on that. I know I have predator issues so I take that into account.

 

[Chicken6000]

I don't know for sure what your facilities look like or some of your management methods. I don't know your goals. We are all unique in our own ways. That means different things work for different ones of us. I understand you want more precise info than this but I can't give it without knowing a lot more.

The way I would approach it would be to leave her alone until she brings that chick and any others that hatch off of the nest. Then clean up that nest. Get rid of any remaining eggs and the mess. Then you have a choice. You can leave her alone to take care of the chicks where she is or you can move her and the chicks to an area safe from predators. If the flock free ranges (which I think they do) I'd probably leave her alone during the day and make sure she and the chicks are locked up in a predator safe area at night.


I can't give you any guarantees when dealing with living animals. I have never had a mature rooster even threaten young chicks. Others I trust on this forum say they have. I've never had a broody hen fail to protect her chicks against other flock members. Several others I trust on here say they have. Most of the problems seem to be when space is crowded but I can't say all were. I'm not there looking. As long as the broody hen has enough room to keep her chicks separated from the rest of the flock I don't worry about it. Sometimes the broody and chicks mingle some with the rest but most of the time she keeps them separated.


Good question. Usually this works out OK. Many people have multiple broody hens on their own nests or raising chicks and don't have problems. You see a lot of threads on here where that happens. But it doesn't always work out like that. Sometimes broody hens fight over the right to raise the chicks. A hen might abandon her nest and try to take over the other hen's nest when the chicks are hatching and pipping or even when the others are just walking around. Sometimes the hens work together to raise the chicks, sometimes they fight to see who gets to keep the chicks but the other nest is still abandoned.

I'll say it again. A lot of the time this works out fine, no problems. But to me this might be a good reason to separate the two broody hens until after the second one hatches and brings her chicks off of the nest. Either lock the hen and chick(s) in an enclosure the other hen cannot get into or fence the second broody where she cannot bother the other but still incubate and hatch her eggs.

Some people on this forum would just let it play out however it does and not do anything extra unless they saw something happening. Others would be freaked out by that broody not being locked up in Fort Knox to begin with. It comes down to your risk tolerance and I don't know where you stand on that. I know I have predator issues so I take that into account.

Thank you so much for the help, I have some unfortunate news however, today the baby chick died to our rooster, based on our camera footage we can safely say that the chick left the hens area and the rooster decided to kill it, not sure why but it happened, I might be blamed i might not, but this is a learning experience for me. I’ll definetly use the help you’ve given me for the future. Do you think she knows the chick is dead, she’s still making these noises when she finds food. Could she continue on broody?

 

[Ridgerunner]

When my hens lose all their chicks they might stay broody for maybe a day or two, then go back to be not being broody.

It is really unusual for a rooster to kill a chick but with living animals anything can happen. Was there a barrier to keep the chick and hen separated? I've had a chick leave the protection of the hen and go into a pen with 8 week old cockerels, they killed it. If the hen had been able to protect the chick she should have but she could not get in there.

 

[Chicken6000]

When my hens lose all their chicks they might stay broody for maybe a day or two, then go back to be not being broody.

It is really unusual for a rooster to kill a chick but with living animals anything can happen. Was there a barrier to keep the chick and hen separated? I've had a chick leave the protection of the hen and go into a pen with 8 week old cockerels, they killed it. If the hen had been able to protect the chick she should have but she could not get in there.

Yea sadly the chick left the general safe area from the hen, the chick was running around for who knows what and the rooster may have seen it as a threat or maybe considered the chick as a weakling. He ended up killing it. One thing i did notice was after i looked at the footage i felt like the rooster felt guilty, he was a little distant and wasn’t coming towards me too much, i’m sure he felt something because he knew i liked then he chick. We’re all good now though!!