Broody hen situation, to incubate or not?

[Isaiah53]

I may have a stupid question here, so would appreciate some charitable answers I am new to chicken Keeping, (although I'd been around them while I was a child). We purchased a new home last November and the previous owner left us 35 chickens. One hen has gone broody and when I was away for a few days several hens laid eggs for 3 days in her nest as she was on it. Turned out when I got back there were 30 give or take eggs she was sitting on. I marked them all and removed everyone from the nesting area so they wouldn't lay more eggs on her and break (they'd fight for that nest of course) and she's been happily sitting on her eggs all by herself. I'd marked the few she was on when I left but over the few days I was away I have no idea what was laid when. So 2 weeks in I got to wondering how can she hatch so many eggs (I doubt they all will of course). I candled as many as I could get to but most are so dark it's hard to see, since there are no other hens to disturb her I am hoping she's gentle enough none break, so far so good. Hatching dates are approximately April 21st to 24th.

Here's my question... How will all (if any) these chicks survive as the nests were placed about 2 feet off the ground. There will be no room for them by my estimation and I see no way for her to feed/water them if she needs to get off the other eggs. Since there's about 4 days between hatch the first eggs and the last, Is it wise to move them all to a brooder style nest area now so she adjusts to this and sits /hatches the eggs there rather than in the higher up nest? Or should I take as many eggs out now and place them in the incubator, when they hatch place them in the brooder with her later... I've disinfected the area with Oxine AH, and placed clean feeders and waterers inside along with a kids pool to put the chicks in for the first 6 weeks. Any advice or direction is appreciated!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Thirty eggs are a lot of eggs for any hen to hatch.

...Hmmmm, and there is no room for the babes....height can be an issue until the babes are fully mobile, and you've got a staggered hatch, and not a lot of room....

If it were me, in dark of night, I would move her into the better place with as many of the viable eggs that you want to hatch, then put the rest in the incubator.

Most full size hens sit 12 to 14 well...some can do 16 to 18...even 20. Thirty is a stretch.

If you are of the "farm mind" rather than the "pet mind," as in nobody will be needing therapy if you inadvertently lose a chick (though you try to take care of them), I'd let momma sit on the best looking eggs, hatch what I could in the incubator, then add those that are within 2 days of age to the broody hatched chicks. Anything older than that, you end up with difficult blending, which you may still have, but not as much since these have already been incubating under a hen. Chicks hear momma above in the shell.

In a perfect brood, momma collects her eggs, then sets on eggs starting incubation at day 1 for all of them. Then she allows 2 days for hatching. At end of day 2 (or start of day 3), she gets up with those that have hatched usually abandoning those that are not out of the shell...the late bloomers. Some hens have a really hard time leaving the hatching chicks in the eggs, which causes problems for the starving older chicks...hence the problem with staggered hatches.

Chicks have enough nourishment in the egg yolk sack from the egg for 2 days. Then they need food and water. That is why momma gets up on day 2/3. Any just hatched babes or yet to hatch can get left behind, though most mommas will allow hatchlings on day 2 to dry out. They often stumble to keep up with those hatched on day 1. Those that are beyond that risk getting chilled as momma isn't sitting as much since she is taking care of the older babes, taking them to food and water, teaching them to scratch. The first week, momma still sits quite a bit (more in cold weather than in hot).

So, because you say you don't have room in the nest box to accommodate the hatched chicks (keeping in mind they will remain under the hen for the first 2 days), then I would move her now.

If on the other hand, you think she can get the first hatched on day 1 and 2 in the nest, you may consider letting her do that with the best developed eggs. It is always risky trying to move a brooding hen. Some simply refuse to brood elsewhere (hence the move in dark of night). Some will resettle wherever.

But I would definitely cull those eggs back to about 15. You can put the less likely ones in the incubator and decide if you want to artificially brood or try to introduce later. Again if ages are pretty close, bonding can go quickly...or not. The hen may have settled on her hatched babes refusing any more.

Keep us informed as to how it goes.

LofMc

 

[Isaiah53]

Thirty eggs are a lot of eggs for any hen to hatch.

...Hmmmm, and there is no room for the babes....height can be an issue until the babes are fully mobile, and you've got a staggered hatch, and not a lot of room....

If it were me, in dark of night, I would move her into the better place with as many of the viable eggs that you want to hatch, then put the rest in the incubator.

Most full size hens sit 12 to 14 well...some can do 16 to 18...even 20. Thirty is a stretch.

If you are of the "farm mind" rather than the "pet mind," as in nobody will be needing therapy if you inadvertently lose a chick (though you try to take care of them), I'd let momma sit on the best looking eggs, hatch what I could in the incubator, then add those that are within 2 days of age to the broody hatched chicks. Anything older than that, you end up with difficult blending, which you may still have, but not as much since these have already been incubating under a hen. Chicks hear momma above in the shell.

In a perfect brood, momma collects her eggs, then sets on eggs starting incubation at day 1 for all of them. Then she allows 2 days for hatching. At end of day 2 (or start of day 3), she gets up with those that have hatched usually abandoning those that are not out of the shell...the late bloomers. Some hens have a really hard time leaving the hatching chicks in the eggs, which causes problems for the starving older chicks...hence the problem with staggered hatches.

Chicks have enough nourishment in the egg yolk sack from the egg for 2 days. Then they need food and water. That is why momma gets up on day 2/3. Any just hatched babes or yet to hatch can get left behind, though most mommas will allow hatchlings on day 2 to dry out. They often stumble to keep up with those hatched on day 1. Those that are beyond that risk getting chilled as momma isn't sitting as much since she is taking care of the older babes, taking them to food and water, teaching them to scratch. The first week, momma still sits quite a bit (more in cold weather than in hot).

So, because you say you don't have room in the nest box to accommodate the hatched chicks (keeping in mind they will remain under the hen for the first 2 days), then I would move her now.

If on the other hand, you think she can get the first hatched on day 1 and 2 in the nest, you may consider letting her do that with the best developed eggs. It is always risky trying to move a brooding hen. Some simply refuse to brood elsewhere (hence the move in dark of night). Some will resettle wherever.

But I would definitely cull those eggs back to about 15. You can put the less likely ones in the incubator and decide if you want to artificially brood or try to introduce later. Again if ages are pretty close, bonding can go quickly...or not. The hen may have settled on her hatched babes refusing any more.

Keep us informed as to how it goes.

LofMc

Thank you SO very much for your kind assistance. What you said is kinda what I thought. I will take out the eggs as you suggested and put them in my incubator to see if they hatch and leave her with ones I know should hatch within a day of each other.

As for her rejecting the babies, I can work around that. I have an extra pen I can make sure they're separated and kept safe and warm if she does. I really do appreciate your help. My hubby was very sad he hadn't checked while I was away. I should have separated her right away lesson learned!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

You are welcome.

Sounds like a plan.
We've all had less than ideal hatches.

Good luck. Again, keep us posted.
LofMc

 

[Isaiah53]

So, I successfully moved her over yesterday. She's still sitting on her eggs. What I've decided to do is leave them all and on Sunday monitor her all day to see if she stays after (if) any eggs hatch. If none hatch, I'll do the same the next few days. If none hatch by Thursday I will presume they didn't make it. If she hatches any and leaves the nest I'll remove the eggs and place them in the incubator (been running on the a countdown since my initial post). Since I'm home all day long I can sit there and watch. If nothing comes of it, at least I tried

She's been very devoted I hope she's rewarded with some babies.

 

[Isaiah53]

Oh and there were 25 eggs, but I feel certain most won't hatch as they were small and many I candled were questionable , so I left them in case.

 

[Isaiah53]

So just an update...

Mama hen had hatched one chicken on Saturday. It's Monday and she hasn't left the nest. So I removed all the remaining eggs and put them in the incubator. I'm hoping she will get off her nest and feed her baby before it dies.

The eggs in the incubator have started to peep today possibly 2 or 3. It's a bit hard to tell. I suspect they're going to hatch over the next couple of days. I'll give them over to mama when they do.

Should I allow them a day or so in the incubator or when they dry out bring them directly to mama with their egg shell.

Lesson learned on monitoring and separating your hens once they set on eggs!

Many thanks!

 

[Isaiah53]

Good news! I've had 5 eggs hatch in the incubator since Monday. Glad I brought them in or I feel sure I would have lost them.

Today I am going to bring 3 of them to the mama and see if she will accept them back. If not I'll bring them back to the brooder. The other 2 just hatched late last night and are still not ready to keep up with the others Hopefully they will be accepted by mama hen. Wish me luck.

 

[Isaiah53]

Oh my goodness. I brought the 3 older chicks up just now (born Monday, Tuesday and wed) to see if mama hen would take them. She took them without hesitation. She's such a good mom! She is so protective. At first she spread her wings out to hide her first baby, but then when she saw them and heard them in the box she came over and looked in and was clucking to come to her. I finally released them and they all ran to her and she looked each one over then fluffed herself up and pulled them under her wings! I'm sooo happy. I was worried she'd reject them after a week, but I think she was relieved to get more babies! Now I had one more hatch about 30 minutes ago so now there's 3 more to bring up on Sunday. Hopefully they'll be strong enough to keep up with the others. There's almost 1 week difference between the first one (last Saturday) and this one hatched today.

 

[Isaiah53]

So

You are welcome.

Sounds like a plan.
We've all had less than ideal hatches.

Good luck. Again, keep us posted.
LofMc

One more update for you. It's been 10 days since the first chick hatched. 4 days since the last chicken hatched. 3 were brought up 5 days ago and all were accepted, then one was rejected, I think it got hurt as it looked like splayed foot, but he was fine before going in with mama hen. I brought it back and hobbled it last Saturday and Sunday and it seems much better. It's is stronger and keeping up with the rest. A total of 8 hatched and just now I brought the last 5 of them up to the mama hen to see if she'd take them... So far so good. They're resting comfortably under her wings. I'll check on them in a couple hours to make sure none are rejected and go from there. She's an amazing mama hen!