Broody Hen won't get back on nest. It's Day 19! What can I do?

[deborah]

I know we are so lucky she took the chicks, especially when it wasn't exactly dark when I gave them to her. She is a great mother hen and I'm sorry I doubted her. All the other chickens were out keeping cool under trees and bushes and dirt bathing, but she was stuck in the hot hen house. She's a Barred Rock; I've heard they don't often go broody. She's 3 years old has gone broody each year. The only one if our flock. The 5 chicks I ordered are Buff Orpingtons and we got 2 Black Astrolorp chicks from the feed mill early in the spring. Maybe we will have more broody hens next year.

We candled the egg last night. There's an air pocket at the large end and the rest was dark. That was all we could see with our flashlight. As far as I know that's how it should look, right? No pip yet. She started sitting on it 3 Thursdays ago. She's staying on it in the nest box. The basement is cool. The 5 chicks come out to eat and drink, but then go back into the nest box with her. I'm just hoping the egg hatches before she decides to get off. We don't have an incubator. If that happens, could I wrap it in a heating pad? Is there anything I can do to save it?

 

[chickenlady08]

I have eggs look dark and I couldn't see inside of it either. I only have a LED flashlight and want to invest in a candler that will be precise and let me see what is going on. I was able to see with my flashlight tonite that one of my EE eggs which is greenish blue in color and usually hard to see through I saw veining inside and so last nite I almost chucked it out but glad I didn't.

Oh and by the way I got 6 Buff orpingtons about a month ago (the babies i was talking about trying to sneak under a former broody) and you will definitley have more broodies next year. I just love it when they hatch their own babies. Only flaw is that I somtimes get to many boys and not able to keep them all. I don't know about the Black Austrolorps, but lets hope they don't all plan on going at the same time like 5 of my hens are now. Oh wait, one hatched a baby on Tuesday so have just 4 sitting now. 2 more WJG, 1 Delaware, and 1 EE. I am excited and also stressed out but more excited just have to find room for the momma's and the babies when they hatch to keep them safe.

Sorry for all the chatter, I just get excited and an obsession takes over. LOL

for your unhatched egg. It should be doing something soon. What day is it on again?

 

[deborah]

The egg has pipped! It must have just happened. I checked at 8:30AM and nothing then.

When I found it pipped, MaMa wasn't sitting on it. It still felt warm, but not as warm as when she's sitting on it. The chicks I gave her are calling her out; they are 3 days old now and getting very active. I was with her maybe 5 minutes to maintain the food and water. During that time she got on and off the egg twice. When she settles in, it seems like the chicks call her out. I hope she settles in and stays there. I'm wondering if I should try to force her, and the chicks, to stay in the nest. I'd have to figure out some kind of barrier to keep her in. Is that a good idea? Any suggestions? The egg has come this far; I'd hate to loose it now.

 

[chickenlady08]

So how is the baby that is trying to come out? I sure hope it is working out for you. I know the feeling about the Momma gettin up and going out with the other babies. It is stressful and be patient but I think she will take care of the 3 day old chicks and the little one coming out now. I sure hope everything is ok.

Please update ASAP! But keep your head up and keep positive thoughts flowing and I pray that everything is ok.

 

[deborah]

Thank you for the postive thoughts and prayers ChickenLady08. Unfortunately, the baby died. I wanted to keep Mama in the nest, so I decided to try to fool her into thinking it was night. I pulled all the drapes and blinds, and I put a comforter over the brood box. She immediately went into the nest and the chicks followed her. I resisted temptation and didn't check on her until the late afternoon. The baby was dead; it was damp and laying on the membrane. Very disappointing.

I immediately closed off our covered run outside and put Mama and the chicks into it. I cleaned out the brood box, planning to move it back into the hen house for Mama and the chicks to use at night. When I took out the nest pad, I found so much yolk, I couldn't clean it all out, but only a few small pieces of shell. I'm now suspecting the egg hadn't pipped; that Mama had pecked it. And when I forced her to stay into the nest, she pecked it some more and ate the shell. If this is what happened, did she do this because she'd already had the chicks 2 days and thought something was wrong with this egg since it hadn't hatched yet? And how long before hatching does the chick absorb the yolk? Do they pip before it's completely absorbed? I'm thinking maybe this egg needed another day or 2. It was alive; I heard it peep when I thought it had pipped.

She's a great mother to the chicks. In hindsight, I should have tried to order them to come a few days after the egg should have hatched rather that trying to time it exactly. I started to type this yesterday, but I was upset with what had happened and couldn't finish it. I spent too much of the day thinking about everything I had done since she went broody and if I had done this, or if I had done that, maybe . . . .

Our rooster is a mutt; half Barred Rock and the other half is either EE, or BO/EE mix. Most of our flock is Barred Rock. I wanted to get some brighter colors in the flock. When she went broody, I checked everyone locally I could think of to try to get some fertilized eggs, but came up empty handed. By this time, she's been sitting on 3 eggs for 2 days and I figured these eggs had started to develop, so I just left them. Besides, I had my husband reminding me we have too many chickens already. But personally, I thought 3 wasn't enough for her, not considering how many chickens we already have. And since I couldn't find any eggs to add quickly enough and it was too late to add more of our eggs, I ordered the 5 day-old chicks to come when her eggs should hatch. And in the end, none of the 3 eggs made it.

So we live and learn, and try not the repeat the mistakes we've made. I'm working to put this behind me and enjoy our Mama hen with her 5 Buff Orpington chicks. Thank you for all the well wishes.

 

[chickenlady08]

Deborah I am so sorry that you had to endure this. I totally understand how you feel. I just found a dead baby chick with the head missing in one of my coops. I am not sure of when it hatched but it was a good sized chick. I had some to hatch out today or tomorow if my calculations were accurate. I had the eggs yesterday and last nite. I have been using my broody coop for spur injuries from my Delaware rooster Jack so I haven't been able to move them out of there. My one that hatched an egg last tuesday is in my garage beside my 6 BO chicks and a BR/Delaware mix chick that are 5 and 6 weeks old. The BO were to go with the little black chick but by the time they came in she wouldn't take them so I have been raising them. So when Momma left the nest to go back with the rest of the flock last week I couldn't let the little lone guy to live with all the big chickens. So he is with the other 6 BO. Anyways..................

I feel your pain in losing a chick. It is so sad when you lose one and it hasn't had the chance to live its life.

and also don't beat yourself up because you went beyond the ordinary to help out your Momma and I think you are fantasic for doing what you did. I would and have done the same thing as well.

Oh and by the way my husband also says that we have way to many chickens now. I have 36 grown chickens. 2 that are 3 months old and 1 that is 5 weeks old and 6 that are 4 weeks old and 1 that is 4 days old. So I am totally love with my chickens. (if yo can't tell)

I wish you lived close by because I could hook you up with some eggs or maybe even some colored chicks.

BTW I also have BR chickens and love them to death. @ are extra sweet and the other are nice but wont let me pick them up or they wont sit on my lap. Delawares are pretty nice as well. I have some EEs, WJG, RSL, and I have to stop or I will have my husband skinning me alive. LOL

Take care
Lisa

 

[deborah]

Mama Died

This is the worse possible thing that could have happened.

Wednesday: The Day old chicks came.

Thursday: We gave the chicks to Mama. They bonded very well.

Friday: Mama's last egg failed to hatch. We moved Mama and the chicks outside. Planned to leave them in the run during the day and the brood box in the hen house during the night.

Saturday morning: Mama didn't want to get out of the nest box. I pulled her out and put her and the chicks into the run. She wasn't her usual self. She would just stand in one place. The chicks huddled around her, peeping, trying to jump on her back, but she didn't do anything. I brought out some yoghurt. With past broods, she would bring them over and show them what it was; she'd spend the day showing them how to scratch, etc. She did these things with them Thursday and Friday. But she paid no attention to the yoghurt. When I placed it near her, she stepped away. She wasn't eatting or drinking. I brought in the big metal waterer, thinking maybe she didn't want to drink of the chick waterer, but she didn't pay any attention to it. I noticed she had some creamy diarhhea stuck to the feather beneath her vent. I called my "chicken mentor" who told me she was likely to die. She suggested I try some ivermectin for cattle in case she had internal parasites. I called around and found it at Tractor Supply. We brought the brood box back into the basement and put the ivermectin on her back. We cleaned up her back feathers. I saw her drink some water from the chick waterer just before we brought her in and she would take a few sips when we held a saucer of water up to her.

Today (Sunday): She was up and down in the morning. I would think she was making progress and then she would backslide. I diced up some tomato and put it on a small paper plate. At first she ignored it, and so did the chicks. I kept trying to coax her with it. Finally, she took a bite, and then called the chicks over. They went wild over the tomatos once she directed them to it. A little later, I brought some yoghurt, but I couldn't get her to pay attention. Every couple of hours, I would offer her water and she would take a few drinks. Around 3:30-4PM, she went into the nest box and things went downhill from there. I started noticing she was wheezing. The chicks got in the nest with her, but she didn't seem to pay them any attention. This evening, she came out of the nest box, but she just laid down, eyes closed and breathing heavily. She got worse fast. The chicks were climbing all over her. They were pulling on her; when one started to pull on her eyelid, I started to pull them out, but she seemed to get alarmed at their loud peeping and I left them. A short time later I noticed a chick peck at her beak and pull out some mucus. I quickly pulled out all the chicks and took them out to the garage. They are back in a bin, originally peeping loudly, but now just cuddled together in the corner. I went back to Mama in the basement and the mucus coming from Mama's nose/beak increased. She died shortly after.

My husband plans to bury her in the morning. She will be the first chicken we've honored with a grave. We've always said she was our most valuable chicken and this is the most difficult loss we've ever had in the flock. She was always the leader among the hens when we didn't have a rooster. Our first rooster was dispatched because he attacked her when she wouldn't submit. She's the only one of our hens to ever go broody, 3 times in 3 years. Last year, when she had chicks, she stood up to a hawk while the rest of the flock hid (the rooster was a chick at the time). My husband always said we should buy an incubator and make sure we hatch some of her eggs, but it's too late now. Last year's hatch was from our eggs, and it's possible one of the 3 pure bred Barred Rocks could be her offspring, but we will never know for sure.

It's unlikely we will ever know what killed her. Our theory right now is we left her in the hot hen house too long during the heat wave. She wanted out of the brood box and I kept trying to keep her on the egg. Maybe it wore down her resistance and made her susceptable to a respiratory infection. And I didn't recognize she was sick soon enough.

I'm sorry to ramble on so long. We have several "favorite" hens, but she was the top one and this is a very hard loss. These are some pictures I took today. They are bittersweet. Good to have them, but so sad to know she was dying.

Her death is a terrible blow at any time, but now is particularly difficult. I gave 5 hatchery chicks a mother. They had 2 good days and bonded very well with her. Now they just have me and my husband. My best memories of our flock is Mama raising chicks. She was such a great mother. We bought 4 chicks from the local feed mill this spring. They are not catching onto things or blending into the flock nearly was well as Mama's chicks always did. I was thinking how much better these 5 BO I got for Mama would have it. Unfortunately, it was not to be.

 

[cackleberrylinda]

Oh my Goodness. I am so sorry for the trials you have had with this one. I so understand how you feel. Gosh, I wish there was something someone could say to make it better. You will never forget this hen and how she gave her all for you and your family. I love my chickens deeply also. And have had such travails too. I recommend an incubator as soon as you can. I would have eliminated a lot of heart break over the years with an incubator. I have one now and will use it to finish off hatches rather than the struggle with a hen that has perhaps better sight than I do into a situation. We never know. We just do the best we can as human chicken MaMas. I have a dozen call duck eggs in my incubator right now and this morning after turning the eggs when I put the lid on I must have accidentally loosened the plug from the wall. When I went in at 3 pm the eggs were cool and the temp in there was in the 70s. I might have blown it. I will wait and see. The ups and downs of loving birds. I hope the little chicks all make it and ease your sadness.
Smiling at you here from Arlington WA

 

[chickenlady08]

Deborah I am so so very sorry. I know you did all you could for your Momma hen and I can tell you loved her so. I read this late last night but I couldn't stop crying. I wish there was something that I could say or do to make you feel better, but I know that only time will heal you. I have no idea what happened to you hen but I would keep a close eye on your little babies to make sure it wasn't something contagious. I know that this is the last thing you want to hear but I don't want you to go through this again. Do you have somebody to go to and ask questions and explain what happened to you hen. I know that I have a local family owned livestock supply store and they are very helpful and have some experiences with all sorts of illnesses. I hope you have someone there to help you.

those babies will be fine with you as their Momma so don't you worry about them. They are tough and Momma already taught them alot and you can just set them up inside so you can keep a closer eye on them. It will take time to integrate them into your flock but it will work. I still am working my oldest chicks which are 3 months old in my flock now. I let them sleep with the big girls but they don't hang around them during the day.

Please stay strong and keep your head up.

Sure wish you were closer by

Lisa