Broody Hatchalong!

[WallacetheKhakiCampbell]

Unfortunately, no clue on what day it is. We noticed the hen was broody probably 2 or 3 days into it. We decided to take two freshly laid eggs from our other hen (coop is only 2 hens and 1 roo) and stick those under her butt. Those were actually the viable fertilized eggs (per candle lighting or whatever you call it lol). One hatched this past Saturday morning. We figured the other one just wasn't viable and not wanting to lose the opportunity we bought a few day old chicks from rural king and added them (seamlessly I might add) to the mother hens bunch. NOW this egg we had given up on, is chirping! Mama hen has her talons full with the other 5 and is kicking up bedding all around her in-between nestling the babies, so I'm not sure if she's done sitting or not. Will the egg be okay left unattended? I didn't want to chance it and put it under a heat lamp with a thermometer in a small box. Egg is still chirping away....should I hatch it in the box or give it back to mama?

**this is the first time we've hatched and a bit unexpected. With only 2 hens and 1 roo we didn't think it was really gonna ever happen but we have been wanting so bad to expand our flock for a while now**

@MGG can you help Izzybfizzy? Im not quite as experienced

 

[WallacetheKhakiCampbell]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/

 

[MGG]

@MGG can you help Izzybfizzy? Im not quite as experienced

Haha! I will try!

 

[MGG]

Sorry to piggy back on this thread but hoping for a bit of help. Broody hen hatched a couple eggs and is no longer sitting regularly on the last egg. The egg is chirping at me! It's got it's first crack but that's all. I took the egg out and put under a heat lamp because mama hen seemed to have no interest in sitting on it. Was that the right thing to do? Should I put it back and let nature take its course?

So it has externally pipped then.
If she wasn't sitting on it, yes that was the right thing to do. Do you have a calibrated thermometer next to the egg under the heat lamp? The temp should be around 100 degrees.

Unfortunately, no clue on what day it is. We noticed the hen was broody probably 2 or 3 days into it. We decided to take two freshly laid eggs from our other hen (coop is only 2 hens and 1 roo) and stick those under her butt. Those were actually the viable fertilized eggs (per candle lighting or whatever you call it lol). One hatched this past Saturday morning. We figured the other one just wasn't viable and not wanting to lose the opportunity we bought a few day old chicks from rural king and added them (seamlessly I might add) to the mother hens bunch. NOW this egg we had given up on, is chirping! Mama hen has her talons full with the other 5 and is kicking up bedding all around her in-between nestling the babies, so I'm not sure if she's done sitting or not. Will the egg be okay left unattended? I didn't want to chance it and put it under a heat lamp with a thermometer in a small box. Egg is still chirping away....should I hatch it in the box or give it back to mama?

**this is the first time we've hatched and a bit unexpected. With only 2 hens and 1 roo we didn't think it was really gonna ever happen but we have been wanting so bad to expand our flock for a while now**

You should be able to introduce it to the the mama in a couple days, once it's active. If it makes it anyway. She won't go back to the nest to sit on the egg. She might sit on the best at nighttime with her babies, but she'll leave again in the morning. Just try to keep the temp stable and cross your fingers! Keep an eye on it. I'm guessing that it's not ready to hatch yet. Don't assist it unless you're absolutely sure it's ready, and there's some signs you can check for to tell if its ready.
Good luck with it. Keep us posted!

 

[Izzybfizzy]

Thank you! And yes, I have a thermometer and am monitoring the temperature. I don't think it's ready just yet either. The first crack started yesterday but no chirping until today. I went out there when I got home from work today and the egg was flat out cold, mama hadn't been on it in a while. But when I picked it up, the chirping! (lol sorry I didn't realize that that could happen until literally at that moment) I thought about tucking it back under mama even though she wasn't in her nesting box, but then she started to kick up her bedding everywhere - and well I could just imagine that ending badly. So anyways, egg is sitting in small cardboard box on top my dresser with the heat lamp. sitting around 99 degrees and humidity varying right now. Was at 25%, put a wet papertowel and squeezed it, its up to 80%. Should level out soon I'm hoping, not sure what the range for the humidity should be.

Thank you for the input and I'll keep ya'll updated!

 

[WallacetheKhakiCampbell]

Another one of mine hatched!! It looks lavender!! I thought it was pretty rare to get a lavender chick when there is a black rooster. So excited! I hope it makes it though!

 

[Secondof9]

My little Pincheon bantam went broody a couple weeks ago and is very stubborn about it so I bought some hatching eggs on Ebay. I set them April 8th. So I decided to join this hatch-along. She's doing great sitting on 11 Bielefelder eggs!! I thought she couldn't cover them but she's a real trooper. Sadly one egg did get broken so now there's "only" 10. Plenty for sure!

Update: The bantam, Ruby, quit sitting about day 10 but unfortunately I didn't realize it until I found the eggs kinda cold. But before I could clear them out my buff orpington took over and began sitting on the eggs so I thought, well maybe they didn't get THAT cold and left them with her. Hatch day came and went...no chicks. So I candled them and found nothing alive. They'd all quit just about day 10. Very disappointing but lesson learned. I won't be trusting Ruby with any more hatching duties. My buff is a 3 year old proven mama so it's all her now.

 

[WallacetheKhakiCampbell]

Update: The bantam, Ruby, quit sitting about day 10 but unfortunately I didn't realize it until I found the eggs kinda cold. But before I could clear them out my buff orpington took over and began sitting on the eggs so I thought, well maybe they didn't get THAT cold and left them with her. Hatch day came and went...no chicks. So I candled them and found nothing alive. They'd all quit just about day 10. Very disappointing but lesson learned. I won't be trusting Ruby with any more hatching duties. My buff is a 3 year old proven mama so it's all her now.

Oh no! Im sorry. Good luck next time though!