Broody girls + Hoba-Bator?

[sunrae]

Okay, chicken lovers. I am a rookie, please help. We have two broody Maran's. Apparently, we scheduled our hatch dates incorrectly, because one of the gals has two chicks under her which hatched about four days ago. The other eggs still have not hatched. Shall I remove the babies and put them in a brooder, or should I remove the eggs and put them in the bator (which I have never used before-but have heating up now). I really want to let her be a mama, and already have a nursery set up for her. She is restless though, since she has been sitting for over a month and half. I feel very bad for her, and want her to move on with her little chicken life. Thanks for your advice!

P.s.: "If you add more eggs after the hen starts incubating the clutch, however, the development of embryos in the new eggs lags behind that of the first eggs, and hatching cannot occur all on the same day—a disaster"(from Brenda Van Ness). This is obviously what has happened to us...why is it a 'disaster'????

 

[llaaadyel]

I would be tempted to remove the eggs and leave the chicks. Let her be a mommy and incubate the eggs giving her a break.

The best laid plans don't always work.

 

[sunrae]

So, I removed the mama with the two hatched chicks. She was great for the first couple of days. I saw them happily scratching and snuggling under her this morning. Later on this morning however, there was a dead beautiful yellow chickie in the corner of the run. Obviously, I didn't see what happened - so, I had a few guesses. Regardless, mama was with the one chick and then all of the sudden freaked out. I am glad I was there. She started pecking at her, causing the chick to scream loudly. I was very glad I was there, and quickly moved her under another broody hen. So, there are more eggs hatching under the other broody - and I was wondering a few things.

1. Does this hen just want to sit and not be mom?
2. Should I give her more eggs?
3. Can I "break" her of her broodiness?

I tried to reintroduce the chicky to her, and she just attacked it.

Thoughts?

 

[sunrae]

I should mention, she is isolated from the rest of the flock. She also freaks out when she hears the baby chicks peeping from under the other broody hen. Seriously....I wanted to give these mamas a chance, but I think the brooder was a lot easier!