Broody hen still sitting on eggs that have not hatched

[farmgirl02]

My broody hen has been sitting on 10 eggs. Only 3 of them hatched about 1 or 2:00 PM yesterday, (one of the 3 hatched like an hour or 30 min. later than the rest) .I think yesterday was day 20. Should I go ahead and take the remaining eggs out from underneath her? Or is there any chance they might hatch?
She has not been off the nest at all. I'm afraid she won't take care of the chicks that have already hatched, in order to keep sitting on her eggs. She has eaten a little bit, because the feeder is right beside her, and she can eat w/out getting up. She has also pooped a little on the nest. (It did not get on any of the eggs)

What should I do?
thanks!

 

[3riverschick]

Hi

Leave her on the eggs. They can hatch as late as day 26. She can take care of the hatched chicks and also sit the other eggs. Place chick feed and the chick waterer within reach of the hen without her having to get up. She will call the chick over and show it how to eat and drink. Chick feed is fine for the hen to eat. She will also be glad for a drink without having to leave the nest.
Congrats on your hatch!

Best,
Karen

 

[farmgirl02]

thank you Karen!

 

[3riverschick]

Most welcome. I was so surprised when my hen did this. The one chick hatched first and she was sitting the others. I moved feed and water over to her and she called the little chick over and took a drink and clucked to the chick. The chick came right over to the waterer to drink. It was so cute. Like Mama hen saying, "Don't worry this big new thing isn't dangerous, come on over and try it! See? I just took a drink and it's ok!

 

[mom of silkies]

Any hatched yet?

 

[chickengeorgeto]

My broody hen has been sitting on 10 eggs. Only 3 of them hatched about 1 or 2:00 PM yesterday, (one of the 3 hatched like an hour or 30 min. later than the rest) .I think yesterday was day 20. Should I go ahead and take the remaining eggs out from underneath her? Or is there any chance they might hatch?
She has not been off the nest at all. I'm afraid she won't take care of the chicks that have already hatched, in order to keep sitting on her eggs. She has eaten a little bit, because the feeder is right beside her, and she can eat w/out getting up. She has also pooped a little on the nest. (It did not get on any of the eggs)

What should I do?
thanks!

First, you should never leave feed where the hen can reach it from her nest. Eggs are not meant to hatch in their own mothers' dung. If nothing else the fowl or foul odors will kill the chick fetuses while they are still in the eggshell. The incubating eggs breath through the porous eggshells. I do not know, or at least I hope that I do not know a human mother who would force her infant to to live in a cradle full of the mother's own filth.

By putting her food even a foot or two out of reach, the mother hen will by necessity leave the nest about once ever 3-5 days and at theses times she will dedicate, then eat and drink enough to sustain her until her next food and water break. Also this gives the chick embryos time to off gas CO2 through the eggshell and replace the heavier than air Carbon Dioxide that has accumulated inside the egg and in the nest cavity with life giving Oxygen. The mother hen is a much better judge of how to birth chicken babies than you or I, just let her do so in as natural a way as possible.

Carbon Dioxide in the form of hot or dry ice is used in commercial hatcheries to humanely kill chicks hatched with deformities or to put down excess cockerels, it is that deadly to chicks. CO2 is also the gas of choice used to kill chickens in flocks that the government has condemned because they have tester positive for Avian Influenza or other serious poultry diseases. If there was no need for eggs to "breath," then there would not be any air vent holes in store bought incubators. Give your hen until day 23 or if she is content let her hover her brood until day 24 to be sure that all the eggs have not only hatched and that the chicks have dried off and fluffed up, but also that the yoke sack attached to each chicks' navel is fully absorbed. I can assure you that hens instinctively take better care of chicks than us poor human beings can ever hope to do. Over all you will loose fewer chicks this way because mother hen knows best.