Broody hens on fertile eggs, 1 chick hatched 5 days ago......

[Barb28]

Hi all,

I am new to chickens. We took over a flock from a relocating family.
1 rooster, 2ducks and 8 chickens.
2 of the hens started to be broody and as we got more than enough eggs from the rest I thought I leave them.
Chloe, the white hen started out on 2 eggs. Couple days later another hen wendy got broody.
A friend suggested to separate the broody hens from the rest...
So now I have 2 hens on 7 eggs each in a single accommodation shed (1 hen in 1 shed)
I don't exactly know when they started to sit on those eggs as I didnt write it down....
On Saturday we found a gorgeous little chick under chloe. She kept sitting on the nest. Couple days later she was off the other eggs and didn't go back in...I worked out that the box was too high for the chick to get back in so chloe panicked and stayed out there with it.
I turned the box facing to the wall so chloe can't get out anymore and put food and water in the box. Now she is sitting again and she tuckes the eggs under her. I canlded them to see if they are fertile. One looks empty ( like see through) but the other five are all dark with airbag on one side. Those eggs shouldn't be more apart than a week....
Chloe was off them a few hours that day before i realised it.
How do I know if they are still ok?
I also read that I can do damage if I pick them up and move them onces they are getting in position (lock down?!?)
Just wait a few days? I marked where the line of the airbag is....so if I would look again in couple days and the line is still the same are they dead? Or should I better not move them again?

The other hen wendy tossed one egg out 3 days ago and it was obviously not fertile....other once look the same as chloes...all dark with airbag.
Would chloe toss her eggs if they are dead? But one looks emtpyand she is still sitting on that as well..
And should I take the empty one out as I read they can explode??
Sorry for so many questions but I am a perfectionist and tend to overthink things

 

[cavemanrich]

If you know the egg is infertile and has been under hen quite some time, YES remove it. It does not really explode, but rather pop. The contents is kind of SMELLY.
You are having a scattered hatch because eggs have been added after hen started brooding. Nothing you can do at this point except learn for next time. Leave the hen on the existing eggs and hope for the best.
Moving/handling those eggs, you did not do any harm. The chicken moves eggs around under her all throughout.
WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and

 

[Barb28]

If you know the egg is infertile and has been under hen quite some time, YES remove it. It does not really explode, but rather pop. The contents is kind of SMELLY.
You are having a scattered hatch because eggs have been added after hen started brooding. Nothing you can do at this point except learn for next time. Leave the hen on the existing eggs and hope for the best.
Moving/handling those eggs, you did not do any harm. The chicken moves eggs around under her all throughout.
WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and

Thank you!
They should not be more than a week apart. Yeah I am learning every day. I love my chooks
I thought the same that the hens are moving those eggs around quite a fair bit...but then I read about lock down from day 18 on and panicked.
Now I am relieved, thanks

 

[cavemanrich]

Chicken don't participate in LOCKDOWN,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Barb28]

Chicken don't participate in LOCKDOWN,,,,,,,,,,,

Ok so when it was dark today I just had to torche the eggs again with my partner . We agreed that one egg was not fertile and took it out and cracked it and it wasn't
But we both saw movements in all the other eggs chloe is sitting on so happy.
We saw an air bag, vene still and a lot of dark moving in there....hope it doesn't take that long now..I am so inpatient.
We also torched Wendys again and saw the air bag but only movement in 1 egg for sure. She is sitting on 3 green small ones....still hoping for the best

 

[Ridgerunner]

This post will be a bit long but it is intended to help you next time. And maybe you can get some ideas for this time.

It is important that all the eggs start incubation at the same time. Otherwise you get a staggered hatch which can cause all kinds of stress and problems. Even under a broody hen not all eggs hatch at exactly 21 days. They can be a day or even two early or late though most tend to hatch within a couple of days of each other. Sometimes my hatches are over within 24 hours of the first one hatching, I've had some drag out for over 60 hours. Nature accommodates this by the chicks absorbing the yolk. They can live off the contents of that yolk for 72 hours or more without eating or drinking while waiting for the later eggs to hatch. That's why they can be shipped. One time I had an egg hatch on a Monday afternoon and she did not take them off the nest until Friday morning waiting on other chicks so some chicks can go longer than 72 hours, but that's about when they normally get hungry or thirsty. The chicks and hen can talk to each other so she should have a good idea of what is going on.

If the eggs are not started at the same time the hen has to make a choice when her first chicks to hatch get hungry or thirsty. She has to decide if she is going to let the first chicks starve to death or take them off the nest and abandon the unhatched ones.

I don't know what is going on with that chick that hatched five days ago. It looks like you have food and water in there so it could be OK. If it is not hungry or thirsty it's not telling Mama it needs food or water. That doesn't always work but it may have in your case. You are lucky.

Normally when a hen leaves the nest to take care of a living chick she does not go back to the nest. She goes from hatching mode to taking care of the chicks mode. She did not panic when she came off the nest, she was just shifting modes. You are lucky she shifted back. That doesn't usually happen.

I hatch in nests two to three feet off the coop floor. When the hens bring the chicks off, they do not go back to those nests. The broody hens normally settle down on the coop floor to spend the night, often in a corner but not always. They do not need a nest to take care of the chicks, they can handle that quite well just sleeping on the coop floor. If you wish you can provide a nest down there, she might use it or she might not.

When I have a broody hen I collect all the eggs I want her to hatch and start them at the same time. I mark them with a Sharpie so I can tell which eggs belong and check under the hen after the others have laid for the day and remove any that do not belong. As long as you remove them daily they are still good to use. As you have seen eggs can mysteriously show up after she has started incubating. That's why you need to check. If you totally isolate the hen from the rest of the flock where the broody cannot join the others and no other hen can get to her nest you don't have to make and check the eggs. There are always different ways to do these things. The important thing is that no late eggs join the brood.

Not sure how all this is going to play out for you. I wish you luck!

 

[Barb28]

Oh wow thank you for the time to answer.

Yeah next time I make sue the eggs start aĺl at the same time. It wasn't really planned this time and we first thoughtwe just give it a go....nothing to lose. Now I know better

The hen and chick left the nest together and the hen would jump back in but the little one couldn't get up and called mom and thats when she panicked and decided to stay with the chick and abandon the eggs.
So now they are in the box together and she is looking after the eggs and the chick. They have food and water in there and I saw the chick eating with mom.

Will update on other eggs/chicks

This post will be a bit long it is intended to help you next time. And maybe you can get some ideas for this time.

It is important that all the eggs start incubation at the same time. Otherwise you get a staggered hatch which can cause all kinds of stress and problems. Even under a broody hen not all eggs hatch at exactly 21 days. They can be a day or even two early or late though most tend to hatch within a couple of days of each other. Sometimes my hatches are over within 24 hours of the first one hatching, I've had some drag out for over 60 hours. Nature accommodates this by the chicks absorbing the yolk. They can live off the contents of that yolk for 72 hours or more without eating or drinking while waiting for the later eggs to hatch. That's why they can be shipped. One time I had an egg hatch on a Monday afternoon and she did not take them off the nest until Friday morning waiting on other chicks so some chicks can go longer than 72 hours, but that's about when they normally get hungry or thirsty. The chicks and hen can talk to each other so she should have a good idea of what is going on.

If the eggs are not started at the same time the hen has to make a choice when her first chicks to hatch get hungry or thirsty. She has to decide if she is going to let the first chicks starve to death or take them off the nest and abandon the unhatched ones.

I don't know what is going on with that chick that hatched five days ago. It looks like you have food and water in there so it could be OK. If it is not hungry or thirsty it's not telling Mama it needs food or water. That doesn't always work but it may have in your case. You are lucky.

Normally when a hen leaves the nest to take care of a living chick she does not go back to the nest. She goes from hatching mode to taking care of the chicks mode. She did not panic when she came off the nest, she was just shifting modes. You are lucky she shifted back. That doesn't usually happen.

I hatch in nests two to three feet off the coop floor. When the hens bring the chicks off, they do not go back to those nests. The broody hens normally settle down on the coop floor to spend the night, often in a corner but not always. They do not need a nest to take care of the chicks, they can handle that quite well just sleeping on the coop floor. If you wish you can provide a nest down there, she might use it or she might not.

When I have a broody hen I collect all the eggs I want her to hatch and start them at the same time. I mark them with a Sharpie so I can tell which eggs belong and check under the hen after the others have laid for the day and remove any that do not belong. As long as you remove them daily they are still good to use. As you have seen eggs can mysteriously show up after she has started incubating. That's why you need to check. If you totally isolate the hen from the rest of the flock where the broody cannot join the others and no other hen can get to her nest you don't have to make and check the eggs. There are always different ways to do these things. The important thing is that no late eggs join the brood.

Not sure how all this is going to play out for you. I wish you luck!

 

[Barb28]

Mom teaching chick how to eat...I let them out a couple times a day for a short period...plus the food they have in the box....hope the other ones hatch soon

 

[Barb28]

I worked it out
Didnt write down when they started sitting on eggs but i messaged a friend.
So chloe started on 2 eggs Saturday 4 weeks ago (1 chick hatched last saturday, 1 egg infertile) and got more eggs during that week and wendy started Saturday 3 weeks ago.
The Tuesday after that I moved them in seperate sheds.
So on Saturday there should be more chicks.... woohoo.
Its soooo hard to wait.

 

[Barb28]

Woohoo....getting serious.
At least 3 other eggs are cracked