Broody hen. Shrink wrapped eggs.

[jdywntr]

Hi I have my first broody chicken hatching now. It is her first time too. Hatch started yesterday and I checked on her this morning and 2 babies got shrink wrapped (that's the term we use with ducklings) and died. One looked squished by mom. They were most of the way out but looks like heads got stuck. I brought them in and removed them, to make sure they died. 4 alive and at least 1 more pipped.

Is shrink wrapping normal under broody hens? I thought it was an incubator issue? It has been cold here overnight. Last night we got down to 28F.

 

[Bill 101]

Low humidity is not a problem just with incubators. I's unusual in broody hens, however it has to do with the area in which they are setting. I had 2 hens setting on eggs (all the eggs came from the same hen). One Hen was setting in a nest inside a building, inside a cage on shavings. The other hen was setting outside in a nest box sitting on the ground, also on shavings. The hen inside didn't hatch ay of her eggs (all were fertile). One piped half way around before getting stuck, the other two didn't even pip. The hen outside hatched all 3 of hers, no problem. This was in a high desert area where humidity is very low.

If someone would ask me if there would be a problem hatching under a broody in the south, I'd probably tell them no, obviously that would be wrong.

 

[jdywntr]

Thanks. I have no experience with hatching chicks only ducklings.