To move the broody late in the hatch or not.....That is the question..

[C_Dzchicks]

So, Long, confusing story short, I accidentally locked my girls in their coop, and over the course of the next couple of days I noticed that every time I went out there, two hens were always clamped down on a nest. So, it took a day or two to realize that I had two broodies and by this time I wasn't sure what to do so I built a brooder coop for Hen #1, moved her on top of some golf balls (lol) then collected eggs from the hen I want to breed over the course of a few days and put them under her. Meanwhile, before I moved hen #1 on top of the golf balls, I put the egg she was sitting on and put it under hen #2 and because #2 was only sitting on 2 eggs I took a few eggs I had collected in the past couple of days (that were in the fridge

) and put under her hoping the incubation start would be close enough together.

So here is the problem. I just got the second brooder coop built but I think hen #2 is days away from hatching and she is in the main coop and the nest box is not on the ground. Should I move her to the new brooder coop before they hatch or will it be a problem being so close to hatch date? I will be at school and won't be able to stay with her if they hatch during the day. Wish I had an incubator in case she leaves the eggs I put in later, but I don't think there is much I can do now... I candled the eggs last night and they were looking good. I know the second peak of eggs dying is just before the hatch and is almost always due to malnutrition of the flock prior to brooding so I hope accidentally locking them in before they went broody doesn't affect the hatch.

What a mess. This was unexpected and my first time so this is all kind of a crap shoot anyways. I'll be happy just to get a couple of chicks out of these first two hatches but I'll be getting a hovator soon so hopefully this won't happen again.... Any suggestions would be great. Thanks!

 

[MIKE555444]

I vote NO… I would not move her. I would let her hatch and keep as close of an eye on her as you can. It is nature for them to do this and even though I have to fight this myself … they are better at it than we are.

I was very worried bout my Boody Buff Orpington pullet because she was so young but she did just fine. I know they don’t always do well, but we should trust them to do what their instinct shows them to do. I just checked and removed and egg shells that were left from the ones that had already hatched and left the baby chicks with momma while she hatched them all. I had to go to work and I hated that I could not be there for every hatch but hey ... she did just fine without me. My nest WAS up off the floor and she never moved until she hatched them all THEN I moved her and the chicks to there new home. i think they have there own "lockdown".

I wouldn’t take the chance so close to hatch date.

Good luck!!

 

[C_Dzchicks]

Thanks for the reply! Thats what I was thinking...Mother Nature has been at this a lot longer than I have so I'll just let it do whatever its going to do and hope for the best. Really my only concern is if one falls out of the nest box she's in right now, its a goner for sure. Thanks for the reply, though!