Broodies abandoned eggs and chick? Help!

[wildharpies]

I have 3 broodies who are caring for our 7 chicks. The chicks have hatched over the course of a week. One more hatched today and we have about 15 eggs left. Until today, they've taken turns sitting on eggs and caring for newborns but today they're ignoring them! The youngest chick is probably about 10 hours old and dry but needs to be under mama's wing! She's not very strong yet and seems really sleepy. What do I do? Should I care for the little one or let nature take its course?

 

[RAWR]

get a brooder ready
??
got an incubator?

 

[wildharpies]

We don't have one! If I lose the eggs it won't be terrible cause we already have too many chickens. But will this little hatchling fare poorly outside a brooder?

 

[darbella]

I was out at a chicken swap this morning when my daughter called to tell me that my hens had all the little chicks out in the rain and that 2 of them were almost dead. One was laying off to the side of the coop and the other under a lawn chair. They are just tiny 3 day old bantams. She put them on a paper towel and back into the coop telling me they were gasping for air and ice cold. We are in the middle of a torrential downpur here and it has cooled down a lot. (NH) So my hubby and I headed home and got here in about an hour, he went to the coop(doghouse) that she put them in and said "what do you want me to do, they are about dead"...first I was going to have him finnish them off, but them I said "bring them to me, I want to try something". Well, one was on its last breath for sure, and the other was hardly breathing, and doing so with a gaping open mouth and they were like drowned rats and cold. I took them into the house and ran the warm water in the sink and made a litle "hot tub" out of cupping my hands being careful not to let them get water in their beaks. I could feel one of them start to move and so then I wrapped them both in a paper towel and placed them in the bator with eggs that are due in another week. I have 2 bators going, one allready has chick, so I used the one just with eggs in case something might be catchy! About an hour later I can hear peeping so loud so I look in on the live chick bator and they are all peeping, but the noise is coming from the other bator, one of the chicks was all fluffed off and running around, but the other did not make it. I feel so good that I saved it! Never give up, there is allways hope, but I agree, with the other posters, get the chicks and put them in a bator or brooder!