1 healthy chick, 1 half dead preemie, and 2 eggs???????? I don't understand. Please help.

[annetteu]

I don't understand. Did the mother forget about the other eggs? Why won't she sit on the preemie to help keep it warm? I am so new at this and I fell helpless. Someone please help me understand what is going on. My heart is breaking over that poor little preemie and the two forgotten eggs.

 

[annetteu]

I should also let you know mom is a bantam and this is the first time she has hatched chicks. It's also very cold and rainy here today.

 

[SilkieSensation]

A hen has to make a choice between babies she knows are alive & ones that may not make it when she gets a staggered hatch. It sounds like some extra eggs got added to her nest after she began sitting. She can't take care of the already hatched babies & continue to sit. You have 2 choices if you want to save the remaining babies. You can plop them in a bator & finish them out or you can take the chicks she has & hope she returns to the nest to finish them herself. I would go with putting the eggs in the bator if she has already left the nest with the other babies. She may or may not return to sit if her chicks are taken. You also run the risk of her refusing the babies if you take them & then try to return them after the others hatch. It's a hard choice, but sometimes you can't save them, especially if you don't have a bator & aren't prepared to brood chicks yourself.

 

[annetteu]

Thank you for your help. The little preemie is doing great. I have the two eggs in with a wet towel and the temp is 100. I don't have a bator or the supplies to build one. I can only hope what I am doing is enough.

 

[SilkieSensation]

You can only do what you can do. You can try slipping the babies under her at night once hatched but no guarantees she will accept them.

 

[TimBaumann]

I had a similar experience only mine didn't go so well! My broody bantam hatched out a few of her own eggs and two silkie eggs! One of my other large hens slipped passed me and killed one of the silkies! THe next day the mother hen left her nest to feed her chicks and I found the second silkie chick in the nest alone ! I took it in and put it into the brooder with my quail chicks but it dies shortly after! I'm glad that your preemie is doing well! The feeling of loosing a chick makes it hard to sleep without thinking about it!
I hope everything works out for you!
Good luck!
Tim