Chickens killed chick - can I pull chicked once a pip is showing.

[rebeccafair]

Yesterday I noticed one of the eggs under 4 of my broody hens was pipped. Today I checked and the hole was bigger and I could here it peeping. This is my first time trying to hatch. I have a flock of thirty. well needless to say I went out an hour ago and the chick was dead pecked to death and being fighted over in the flock. I was prepared to pull the chick once it hatched and put in brooder but didnt make it in time.

My question is can I hatch a egg that the chick has pipped (little hole and chick visably working to get out) in the brooder if I can get the tempature around 90 degrees?

I have a few more that will pip soon and fear they will be pecked to death before I can save them.

 

[caitanni]

what are you using for a brooder? I am using a tote and if had to I could cover vent holes and wired area we made to hold in the heat. You'd have to have the humidity up. You know anyone with an incubator?

 

[GaryDean26]

We had a reverse senario to yours with the same results. We had our hatcher die on us so we decided to put eggs under one of our broody hens 3 days before they we set to pip. We ended up with all the chicks getting pecked to death by the flock.

In successfull hatches under broody hens we have separated the hen from the rest of the flock. We have 12 pens so we just set one up as the broody pen and that works great. If you don't have a spare pen you can just get some chicken wire or wire fence and wrap in in a hoop in the corner of the hen house to keep the rest of the hens away from the nest durring the hatch. You can just put the little water and feeders for the chicks inside the hoop for the hen to feed from while tending the nest. If the hen is high on the pecking order you should beable to introduce the chicks to the flock once they are about 3 days old (lower ranking hens may still have some trouble with the brood being accepted by the flock but after they are dry and fluffy they seem to do okay).

No, you can't transfer the eggs to the the brooder. Humidity is important durring the hatch. Under the hen they humidity is about 65% durring piping. The brooder is probablly about 25% humidity. This will dry out the membrane that lines the egg and the chick's down will stick to it to the point that they can't turn in the shell and they will get stick and die in the shell. Mama knows best. Let the hen hatch them, but isolated her so the flock can't get to the nest for a few days.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I have my momma hens separated from the flockfor hatching. I let mom hatch them out bring them in to feed and keep warm during the day and a night bring momma in to keep them warm for the first week or so. it is a lot of back and forth, but I haven't lost any that way. then at about 2 weeks I set up an outdoor pen with heat and momma.

 

[windtryst]

You do not need heat if momma is around.

 

[gimmie birdies]

you do if they are young and it is still cold out. young birds are sometimes not bright enough to stand under mom. and if mom is busy scratching then the chick can get cold. with a small heat the chick has options. I din't read it in a book... real life babe.

 

[GaryDean26]

you do if they are young and it is still cold out. young birds are sometimes not bright enough to stand under mom. and if mom is busy scratching then the chick can get cold. with a small heat the chick has options. I din't read it in a book... real life babe.

We didn't use heat with our broody on the successful hatch in the separate pen. It did check them every night at dusk though and sure enough a few days after the hatch I noticed that one chicks didn't find his way back into the nest (yep the one chipping its head off because it was cold). It surely would have frozen over night if I didn't help it back into the nest. Yes, sometimes the aren't smart enough to get under momma.

 

[gimmie birdies]

and it depends on your location.