Dead chick

[lauren212]

This is my first time hatching eggs with a broody hen. Started with 4 eggs. One of them wasn’t fertilized so I got rid of it. Yesterday was day 18 and one of them had a little crack in it. Like a pip mark but not a hole. When I woke up I found the shell half off but the chick was dead. There was blood up the side of the nest box. I have now moved the broody hen to a spot where she is alone. The chick looked developed. I was worried that maybe it got crushed by one of the other hens who all want to use that nest box. Now she’s separated from the flock and has two eggs left. Any tips. I don’t want the last two to die.

 

[Hencraze24]

I'm sorry for your loss-

I'd recommend an incubator the next time around.

If you got a cage, put the hen and the eggs in it, so the others don't interfere

 

[Kiki]

Do you have an incubator?

 

[Hencraze24]

No-we buy chicks and let our broody hens raise them.

 

[Kiki]

No-we buy chicks and let our broody hens raise them.

Sorry for the confusion.
I was asking @lauren212

 

[Hencraze24]

oh. sorry.

 

[lauren212]

No incubator. Just the hen. Isn’t 18 days a bit too soon for that one to hatch.

 

[Kiki]

No incubator. Just the hen. Isn’t 18 days a bit too soon for that one to hatch.

Not totally unheard of. Sometimes they do hatch early.
It sounds like it might have gotten crack on accident though.

 

[lauren212]

Ya maybe. Hopefully now that she’s by herself the other two will be fine.