Broody Mama HELP!

[Curlychick110]

I had a broody mama hen (she’s polish and it’s her first ever time) who hatched out 6 of her coop mates eggs and then left the nest with the babies. She left 4 halfway into their hatch or pipped. A buckeye hen who has never been broody (it’s a year of firsts for me since literally half of my flock has decided to try to go broody) sat on the still hatching eggs and hasn’t moved. She was showing signs of going broody, but hadn’t started yet. Will these eggs hatch or did all the jostling destroy that chance? Will she raise them as her own or is she just basically babysitting? My whole flock is about a year and 3 months old so we’ve never done this! I don’t have an incubator and never even thought to get one since we didn’t plan on any going broody or hatching out eggs just yet. Thank you!

 

[sourland]

Not certain what's going to happen here. But wishing you/them good luck. Keep this updated.

 

[Curlychick110]

Not certain what's going to happen here. But wishing you/them good luck. Keep this updated.

I will, thanks. I’m not sure, either, honestly. I don’t know why our broody mama original moved in the middle of a hatch except that this one is later than the other 6 who are out and about with her. They’re all in the coop together

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm not sure what is going on either. With living animals you never know what will happen, about anything can. There are no real rules.

One time I had a hen that had just gone broody fight a hen for the eggs as they started hatching. You will read on here that a hen won't accept chicks until she has been broody for three weeks or so. Some may be like that but my experience not all are like that. Your Buckeye may hatch and raise those chicks, she may not. The Polish has abandoned those eggs and is busy raising the ones she hatched. It sounds like you may have had a staggered hatch. That's where eggs start incubation at different times so they don't hatch together. The broody hen has to decide between the first to hatch that are getting hungry or let them starve and try to hatch the later ones.

Since you don't have an incubator I suggest you see what that Buckeye does. She might hatch and raise those chicks. She might not. It's what I'd try.

If she abandons them you could try fixing something to keep the temperature around 99 to 100 Fahrenheit and see if you can hatch them yourself. Try to keep the humidity high. Some people have had some success doing that but it's not easy.

I wish you luck, it's a hard spot to be in.

 

[Vickischics]

I had a broody mama hen (she’s polish and it’s her first ever time) who hatched out 6 of her coop mates eggs and then left the nest with the babies. She left 4 halfway into their hatch or pipped. A buckeye hen who has never been broody (it’s a year of firsts for me since literally half of my flock has decided to try to go broody) sat on the still hatching eggs and hasn’t moved. She was showing signs of going broody, but hadn’t started yet. Will these eggs hatch or did all the jostling destroy that chance? Will she raise them as her own or is she just basically babysitting? My whole flock is about a year and 3 months old so we’ve never done this! I don’t have an incubator and never even thought to get one since we didn’t plan on any going broody or hatching out eggs just yet. Thank you!

I'm not surprised your broody polish girl left the nest once six hatched. Polish can be pretty lousy broodies and then others are fantastic broodies staying and raising all the chicks until grown. Fortunately, I've had two great broodies out of my 6 polish girls. You just can't tell until they are successful. My others don't ever go broody.
I hope your other broody takes over otherwise, I'm sorry.
At least she stayed and hatched out 6 chicks for you. Once her hormones change from being broody to "caring", the six chicks was her max.and she couldn't do broody anymore.

 

[Curlychick110]

Until today, my other broody stayed on the eggs and then she came out and has spent the entire day as close as possible to the other chicks, even being chased away by my polish multiple times. She just won’t stop making noise and it almost seems like she’s trying to take over at least one. None of the other eggs have hatched. One got cracked fully open when it got pushed out of the nest and the baby hadn’t absorbed any yolk and it’s insides were outside. Around that time, she hopped off the nest and hasn’t been back on. I’m at a loss at this point. All the eggs are marked in case anyone tries to lay more with the clutch.

 

[pinewoodacres]

Until today, my other broody stayed on the eggs and then she came out and has spent the entire day as close as possible to the other chicks, even being chased away by my polish multiple times. She just won’t stop making noise and it almost seems like she’s trying to take over at least one. None of the other eggs have hatched. One got cracked fully open when it got pushed out of the nest and the baby hadn’t absorbed any yolk and it’s insides were outside. Around that time, she hopped off the nest and hasn’t been back on. I’m at a loss at this point. All the eggs are marked in case anyone tries to lay more with the clutch.

How did this pan out?

I’m dealing with our first broody now also; chicks hatched two nights ago but I think there are two more eggs that might be viable (I will candle tomorrow evening if no action by then). But I did notice that she did not seem to like it when some eggs broke. Three times, she or someone else stepped on the eggs. Two broke that had no development and another appeared to be a late quit. When I noticed, she had been out of the nest and did not want to go back in even after I cleaned everything up. All three times. She did finally go back in but I have to wonder if the dead eggs freaked her out. The first morning when I found they hatched, I guess it was yesterday, there was a dead, cold baby in there and she was quick to hop out to go eat when I opened the coop. I had to herd her back in after she had time to eat and drink and stretch her legs.