broody advice *UPDATE*

[slim1986]

Ok, we haven't seen "Big mama" in like 2 weeks, she's a black jersey hen, but anyway we found her under a thicket by my parents drive way with a whole batch of eggs! Its November 2nd! So my ?, should we "wait and see" and let her hatch them or just say "its too late in the year for babies" and pull the eggs now? She's been missing for at least 2 weeks so it shouldn't be long before they hatch, so I'd hate to take them from her now and miss out on babies, but I also don't want to miss the hatch and lose umpteen babies to the cold! Need some advice! (Oh and we don't have an incubator + we don't know exactly how long she's been sitting just that's its around 2 weeks, so pulling and 'bating isn't an option)

 

[Sjisty]

I would let her hatch them. She knows what she's doing and she should be able to keep them warm.

 

[slim1986]

Well my concern is she is 7 months old so she's a 1st timer and this is the time of year when we get freezing rains and sleet. We've always just had leghorns and they weren't ever broody so I wanna have her hatch them because the time in my 24 yrs we have had a hatch any kind at our place so its a first time natural hatch for us and its exciting! I'm mainly wanting reassurance!

 

[mammat]

If she has in fact sat on those eggs for 2 weeks she must know what she is doing. I would let her hatch them. My little silkie hen hatched out 8 full size eggs and raised them all beautifully her first time with no problems!

 

[Sjisty]

After she hatches them, can you move her and them to a safer place? That's what I do with one of my girls who is always determined to hatch her eggs in a big flower pot in the front yard. As soon as they are all hatched I catch her and them and put them on the floor of the coop in a cat litter box filled with hay.

 

[slim1986]

Yeah we can, but these chickens aren't at my house, they are at my parents and with their schedule it will be hard to have someone always on hatch watch, if we moved her now, she may freak and abandon the nest and its all for nothing we've all talked about it once we noticed her and what she was doing and decided to let her hatch them, now we just are focused on how we are going to handle the chick situation once they hatch? So now we need advice on the post hatch!

(not our first time with babies, just our first hatch!)

 

[cmom]

Quote:
I agree. Wait until after she hatches the eggs then move her and the chicks to a safe place.

 

[slim1986]

So my mama hen that was sitting "abandoned nest" last night, I came to my parents today and checked her, she was gone and there were only a few eggs, hoping they were duds left in the nest, I ran to find Big Mama to see the babies! But I found her with the other chickens, my dad said she had been with them all morning too, so I went back to the nest and gathered the remaining eggs, they were all ice cold, and smelled rotten. Instead of just throwing them away curiosity got the better of me and I cracked them open, 1st 3 were rotten then I got to number 4

a little frozen baby fell out into my hands, in all there was 2 little white babies and 1 little black baby..... She'll get another chance at being a mama this spring, when it isn't so cold over night and we can be more prepared. It broke my heart to see those 3 little babies tho..... She was right at the end, just a few more days by the size of the chicks..... But thank u for all the advice

 

[mammat]

Sorry to hear that. They can tell when they are rotten or dead. Maybe they died and she could no longer hear the heart beats so she left them. Maybe she will do better next time