Sapphiremom
In the Brooder
- May 17, 2021
- 1
- 1
- 19
Have been checking broodies (2 hens have decided to team-sit) and things seemed fine. Today is day 21, and there is an AWFUL smell coming from their corner of the coop. Open the nest box and lifted one hen, there's a brand new baby just hatched!
Lifted the other and... MAGGOTS. Fully formed chick seems to have died during or just before hatch.
We scooped the maggot-y mess out and added some fresh shavings, but surely jostled quite a few of the unhatched eggs in the process.
What advice have ye? Momma hen REEKS. I'm sure not all of the maggots got removed from the pine shavings; will they go after the new chick? How likely is it the rest of the hatch will fail?
The coop is not a good place for the hens to raise the chicks, so we have a secondary place set up for them, but since it's lockdown we didn't want to move the rest of the eggs and the hens until they're done hatching. Would it be better to move them now anyway?
Secondarily, they probably have 14 eggs between them, and today was day 21 for the oldest of the eggs. They've been sitting (or at least 1 has been sitting) since day 1, so many of the eggs aren't 21 days. How long should we wait for the others? ((The story - feel free to not read: We went on vacation for 2 weeks, and house sitter hadn't been removing eggs from under broody. Husband collected all eggs the day we returned. I realized one of the hens was broody that day and decided to let her try to hatch. I did not realize hubby collected the eggs that Saturday until a week later, so she was sitting on new eggs starting that Sunday. No idea how long it took the two of them to collect as many eggs as they have, nor whether any of the 7 other hens laid in that nest box during that time. I don't even recall now how long it was before second hen joined the first, but it wasn't right at the beginning).
This is our first broody hatch and I haven't been able to successfully google this *particular* problem. Thanks for your help!
Lifted the other and... MAGGOTS. Fully formed chick seems to have died during or just before hatch.
We scooped the maggot-y mess out and added some fresh shavings, but surely jostled quite a few of the unhatched eggs in the process.
What advice have ye? Momma hen REEKS. I'm sure not all of the maggots got removed from the pine shavings; will they go after the new chick? How likely is it the rest of the hatch will fail?
The coop is not a good place for the hens to raise the chicks, so we have a secondary place set up for them, but since it's lockdown we didn't want to move the rest of the eggs and the hens until they're done hatching. Would it be better to move them now anyway?
Secondarily, they probably have 14 eggs between them, and today was day 21 for the oldest of the eggs. They've been sitting (or at least 1 has been sitting) since day 1, so many of the eggs aren't 21 days. How long should we wait for the others? ((The story - feel free to not read: We went on vacation for 2 weeks, and house sitter hadn't been removing eggs from under broody. Husband collected all eggs the day we returned. I realized one of the hens was broody that day and decided to let her try to hatch. I did not realize hubby collected the eggs that Saturday until a week later, so she was sitting on new eggs starting that Sunday. No idea how long it took the two of them to collect as many eggs as they have, nor whether any of the 7 other hens laid in that nest box during that time. I don't even recall now how long it was before second hen joined the first, but it wasn't right at the beginning).
This is our first broody hatch and I haven't been able to successfully google this *particular* problem. Thanks for your help!
Never had maggots but had rotten quitters. One broke in my hand as I was taking it out of the nest.
