Chick hatching under broody hen

[nconley11]

I posted a couple weeks ago about cracking an egg open and losing the chick. Now I finally have a successful chick attempting to hatch. there is a corn kernel size hole that the chick has made. I've never hatched chicks before. I have three Broody hens sitting in the nest boxs with the rest of the flock including one rooster. The nest boxes are about 5 feet off the ground. What do I do now that I have chicks hatching? I'm waiting on three more eggs from this batch. I just don't know how to feed the chick and I don't want it to fall out of the box and die. Do I pull the chicken and bring it inside, put it under a lamp or do I leave it with the mom? What do i about the height? Do I move mom and the one chick and leave the other eggs with one of the other broody's?

 

[Peeps61]

I posted a couple weeks ago about cracking an egg open and losing the chick. Now I finally have a successful chick attempting to hatch. there is a corn kernel size hole that the chick has made. I've never hatched chicks before. I have three Broody hens sitting in the nest boxs with the rest of the flock including one rooster. The nest boxes are about 5 feet off the ground. What do I do now that I have chicks hatching? I'm waiting on three more eggs from this batch. I just don't know how to feed the chick and I don't want it to fall out of the box and die. Do I pull the chicken and bring it inside, put it under a lamp or do I leave it with the mom? What do i about the height? Do I move mom and the one chick and leave the other eggs with one of the other broody's?

I would leave her alone until the chicks have hatched. If the coop isn't too far off the ground, the chicks will actually jump out to follow mom when she leaves the nest, so I wouldn't worry about them. When the eggs have finished hatching, the hen will want to leave the nest, so keep an eye on things and when she gets to that point, I'd take her out of the coop along with the chicks and put them in a separate pen/run, making sure they have shelter, food and water. When my broody hatched chicks, she did it in the front yard under azalea bushes and was there for about 2 days while the eggs were hatching. Then, she brought them over to the rest of the flock. The other hens were curious, but not interested in tangling with a broody hen! She slept under the lawn mower on the ground with them and did just fine. Nothing could get at her and she was smart enough to know it. At any rate, I think it's important to let her take care of business before bothering her by moving things around. JMHO.

 

[Peeps61]

I forgot to mention that the chicks are good without food or water for 48 to 36 hours as they are living on the remainder of the yolk from the egg. After that, food and water are needed. The hen knows when to take them.

 

[nconley11]

How long should it take to hatch? I ended up pulling it and putting under a heat lamp cuz i found bugs in nest and hadnt made much progress and it was squished by mom and coolish.

 

[Peeps61]

How long should it take to hatch? I ended up pulling it and putting under a heat lamp cuz i found bugs in nest and hadnt made much progress and it was squished by mom and coolish.

What day is the egg on? The problem with putting the egg under the heat lamp is the chick needs humidity or the inside membrane will shrink wrap the chick and it will die. Also, the hen may not accept the chick as hers. If you do reading about incubation of chicks, you'll see that humidity is very important.

Most eggs take 12 to 24 hours to hatch. It's hard work!

 

[nconley11]

20+ days....it wasn't really moving or breathing when i took it away from her. I brought it in...all yoke was absorbed so i took it out of the shell but left it attached still and folded it into a warm wash cloth with heat lamp. It is now breathing great, moving a bit and peeping. Fingers crossed it keeps going that way

 

[Peeps61]

20+ days....it wasn't really moving or breathing when i took it away from her. I brought it in...all yoke was absorbed so i took it out of the shell but left it attached still and folded it into a warm wash cloth with heat lamp. It is now breathing great, moving a bit and peeping. Fingers crossed it keeps going that way

Good! Hope so. Keep us updated.

 

[kwhites634]

I would leave her alone until the chicks have hatched. If the coop isn't too far off the ground, the chicks will actually jump out to follow mom when she leaves the nest, so I wouldn't worry about them. When the eggs have finished hatching, the hen will want to leave the nest, so keep an eye on things and when she gets to that point, I'd take her out of the coop along with the chicks and put them in a separate pen/run, making sure they have shelter, food and water. When my broody hatched chicks, she did it in the front yard under azalea bushes and was there for about 2 days while the eggs were hatching. Then, she brought them over to the rest of the flock. The other hens were curious, but not interested in tangling with a broody hen! She slept under the lawn mower on the ground with them and did just fine. Nothing could get at her and she was smart enough to know it. At any rate, I think it's important to let her take care of business before bothering her by moving things around. JMHO.

My broody hen hatched two chicks about 10 days ago, in a smallish coop 3' off the ground, with three other hens & a rooster in & out regularly. Momma had them down on the floor of the run on the 2nd or 3rd day, & has since taken over the corner of the coop with her chicks, while the other 3 hens sleep on the roost pole out in the run.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

What ever you do do nothing. The simple fact that there are 3 hens already sitting in the same nest is troubling. Have you ever heard the adage "Too many cooks spoil the soup" well the same thing is true with setting hens. Newly hatched chicks are capable of jumping or falling great distances and not even being fazed. I have seen chicks jump from the top of hay lofts 30 feet off the ground, and hit the ground a-running. Forgive the pun but a 5 foot fall is child's' play for a baby chick. Edited to read: Sorry I didn't notice that you used the plural noun boxes.

There is a definite possibility that removing a chick will cause the hen to forget it and thus try to kill it when it is reintroduced.

 

[nconley11]

Thanks everyone! The chick was looking health in the am after its night of pampering so i thought id take it out to the coop and see if mom would accept it. When i got out there another chick had hatched over the night and looked prefect. I added the first one and have checked on them about 5 times today. All is well. At my last check another egg had started hatching. This one had a majority of the shell broken but the membrane intact so i broke it and put it back. 1 egg left to go!

This is my new concern....i noticed at some point recently i may have a mite problem. I treated the boxes with diatomaceous earth but noticed them on momma today. I dusted her right away. I don't want to move her until all her eggs are hatched, but i don't want to lose the chicks. Thoughts? I plan to gut the coop tomorrow and dust it heavily!