I posted a question a week or so ago about my broody hen & how to raise her chicks, and was asked by someone to keep you posted on my "science experiment" of allowing the broody to raise her chicks in the coop with my other birds rather than setting up a broody pen.
First chick hatched Thursday morning. Yay! My first ever hatch

A little black fuzzball made me one proud chicken owner Thursday morning! All was well with mom, her 8 remaining eggs, and new chick on Saturday morning when I left for Quarterhorse Congress, leaving my husband in charge of my critters. I returned tonight to find one fuzzy black chick and mama, sitting on 7 eggs and one broken shell. Upon closer inspection, I found that there was a dead (murdered?) fuzzy black chick in the corner of the coop floor, beside the nesting boxes. The surviving chick is in fact the newest hatchling, and Thursday's baby is now dead. I decided it was time to make a broody pen, so moved mama, her eggs and the chick to a galvanized trough and got them all set up before inspecting the dead chick. I don't think it was murdered... No missing fuzz, no broken skin, nothing. So my newest theory is that maybe he fell out of the nest box, or followed mom out to eat, but couldn't get back in and died of cold? either way, this shouldn't happen again since I've separated her. Lesson learned.
Neat discovery while moving the nest: one little Banty egg got buried in the straw and shoved out from under the broody. When I moved the eggs, they were all warm from being sat on, while this one was cold and shoved almost to the front of the nest box. I decided to "dissect" it to see what was going on in there. A tiny little black chick, fully fuzzed, was inside. I really don't know much about the developmental stages of a chicken, but this little guy had all of his toes and toenails. It was really neat to see the yolk (which was quite large compared to the tiny chick) covered in blood vessels and the umbilical cord-type thing that attached to the chick. I was a bit upset that my broody "lost" this little guy, but it was a learning experience for me nonetheless.
Other interesting discovery tonight: my surviving chick has 5 toes, so his daddy must be my little black silkie roo, CeeLo. I had wondered if a silkie cross would pass that gene along. I know OTs are anti-fuzzy butts, but he's my only silkie andi sure do like to look at him

Another part of this science experiment is that of my 10 chickens, I only have 2 that are the same breed. So I'm creating some little mutt chickens, which I'm ok with for my backyard flock. The roosters will taste just as good in the spring, regardless of what breed they are
2 questions, if anyone s still reading the novel I just wrote! 1) murdered chick or death by freezing? 2) did I do the right thing by moving the nest to a safe place? Hen is happily sitting on her eggs and keeping her chick warm... Will I have to reintegrate her into my flock or will they remember her? Sorry, that was 3
Thanks!
Nikki