Broody Hen and Hatching Day!

[ally1327]

Hi all,
Today is day 21 under a first-time broody hen (oh, the excitement!!) She is just a baby herself (hatched in April) so we weren't expecting much from her.
Although I'm not sure we should have, we picked her up this morning to see if anything was happening and sure enough, one of the eggs has begun pipping and chirping!
We have a mixture of breeds in the eggs under her, and I'm wondering how we will be able to tell which chicks came from which eggs?

Should we lift her up and have a peek every so often? Any advice on monitoring the hatch without being destructive?

Thanks!

Ally

 

[sourland]

Hi, Ally, and welcome to BYC. Just leave her alone and let her do her thing. Mother hens have been doing this successfully for a long time. Good luck for a successful hatch.

 

[Sally PB]

And let us know/see what happens!

Welcome, by the way.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

NO!~~
Don't mess with her. Now is the time she needs to sit tight to retain humidity. Lifting her up will allow the humidity to escape and potentially shrink wrap the embryos depending on your location. What is the ambient humidity right now?

 

[ally1327]

NO!~~
Don't mess with her. Now is the time she needs to sit tight to retain humidity. Lifting her up will allow the humidity to escape and potentially shrink wrap the embryos depending on your location. What is the ambient humidity right now?

The humidity outside is 91% today, I don't have a meter inside the coop but expect it to be similar with our setup.

 

[ally1327]

All but one of the eggs hatched (it didn't make it to pipping stage)! We did pick her up once to clean up a massive poop she did in the nest, and we saw her get up from the eggs a couple of times which gave us the opportunity to monitor things a bit and remove hatched eggs. It got cold through the night and she even rolled one of the eggs with her across the brooder under the heat lamp where she hatched it out. Amazing!
Thanks for all the suggestions!