Brood hens only chick disappeared...

[hgillins]

We have a year old American Gamefowl hen that we decided to let her hatch her own eggs. She waited till she had 12 eggs before going broody and sat diligently for four weeks waiting for them to hatch. Her 6 eggs that she kept till the end didn't make due too high of humidity (guessing), it had rained most of time she was sitting. The chicks were fully formed but had small air sacks and were covered in brown goo. My wife felt bad for her because she hadn't given up, so my wife got her three day old chicks and put them in place of three eggs. After a few minutes she claimed them as hers and was very protective. Two refused to leave the nesting box and died, but mom stayed with the 3rd that could make it to the food. After about three weeks the chick was gone. Guessing it walked out of the fence, like it always had, and got snatched up by something when mom couldn't get to it. She has since returned to her normal self but hasn't started laying yet and it has been over a month.

How long till I can expect her to start laying again?

We are trying to get more chicks to preserve the line that has been in my wife's family for four generation.

 

[ChickenLegs13]

Every time I raise chicks in the wild, meaning not in a cage or pen, seems like there's always 1 that ups & just dissapears without a trace.
When my hens go broody and raise chicks it's usually about 2 1/2 to 3 months from the last egg till they start laying again.

 

[hgillins]

Thanks, I wasn't sure how long she would need to recover till she started laying again. So hopefully in two or three weeks she will start again. It has been almost two months since she laid her last egg. They are in a pen but the run is just chain link and the chick could wander out. Next time I let her go broody again I will put chicken wire along the bottom so they can't get out, but that might be awhile since I now have an incubator.

 

[ChickenLegs13]

I don't use broody hens any more either. Mine would go broody twice a year, then add the winter slowdown, and that's only about 3-4 months of the year that mine were laying any eggs.