All chicks died

[MarionCraig]

Hi Everyone. I have three silver laced wyandotte bantams hens and two polish silver laced bantams plus "Arthur" my very very handsome silver laced wyandotte bantam cockerel. At the end of April one of the wyandotte hens went broody and I let her sit on eggs in the main coop. I then moved her to a separate coop with the eggs. Discussing this with a local gamekeeper I soon realised I had made a mistake not collecting the eggs and putting them under her all at once. Two eggs did hatch but the other eggs didn't which was caused by not enough humidity and the chicks died in the shell. Two eggs didn't develop at all. One of the live chicks was very weak and died - too much of a battle to get out of the egg. The last remaining chick was doing ok but the chick managed to get itself wedged in between the tray of the coop and the edge and also died. I am obviously very upset as I have made so many errors, interfered too much and this has resulted in no chicks

I have put the broody hen back with the other hens.

My question is how long before she will start laying again? The other two silver laced wyandotte hens have also been broody all this time too but they haven't been on any eggs. The only hens laying at the moment are the polish bantams. Is it possible to get another clutch before winter (I live in North East England).

My gamekeeper friend is going to come and look at the set up I have and advise on a broody coop etc.

Thanks

Guilty from Northumberland

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It will probably be about a month before she starts laying again, more or less.

It doesn't matter whether the hen is with the primary flock or in her own quarters, though I prefer the latter so I can feed her and the chicks a high protein starter feed.
Your friend is right about needing to set all the eggs at once. Otherwise the hatch will be staggered resulting in dead embryos when she abandons them to care for the live chicks.
If you have a broody with the rest of the flock, take a sharpie or pencil and mark all the eggs under her the first day so you can remove any the other hens volunteer to the nest.
Keep a record of the date incubation started so you know when to expect chicks.
Other than providing food and water and removing volunteered eggs when she comes off the nest, don't mess with her. Let her do her thing. She knows what to do. They've been doing it for hundreds of thousands of years without our interference.

If you have other setters that you aren't going to give eggs, it's best to break their broodiness immediately.

 

[MarionCraig]

Thank you for your reply.

I certainly will let her get on with it next time and trust her instincts. She was in a separate coop for incubating her eggs and back in with the rest now. I am trying to break the broodiness of the other hens by taking them off the nest two to three times a day - they are so determined. I think I will try and set up the broody breaking cage - just need to find an old cage from somewhere.

One thing I have noticed is that the hens claws have grown quite long and I'm wondering if I should clip them or will they naturally wear down again? They look a little curly!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It wouldn't hurt to trim them a bit. Be careful though because the quick will be very long. Try just taking the curved part.
They will wear down once they start scratching.

Taking them off the nest a couple times a day doesn't work.
They need to be elevated off the ground 24 hours a day and in a couple days it will be over.
If you have some wire and wood, you can quickly make a temporary broody jail. It doesn't have to be pretty.
We used to keep several homemade cages hanging from the ceiling of the henhouse for that purpose.