Possible Large Gap in Hatchings

[whatsthequestion]

My hen had a chick hatch two days ago. The mom hasn't been out of the brooder for almost 72 hours. The eggs still under her appear viable but a bit behind this chick. I had multiple hens laying in this nest while I was away. It is possible they could be up to 10 days behind this chick. I marked all the eggs she was sitting on when I returned and allowed no new eggs to stay under her. I have all my broodies now in separate pens (working great). Today we are expanding the brooding area so the hens and chicks (hopefully there will be more) can move about more.

Here is my question: My broody mom doesn't want to come off the nest. She has showed her chick about food and water and let's me interact with it's feeding. She is going to need to go out. Should I just put a heat lamp on temporarily and pull her off for a bathroom break? If the other eggs hatch soon she will be stuck on the nest for another 48 hours.

I really appreciate your assistance. This is my first awkward foray into letting chickens hatch and raise their own chicks. For a thing that is supposed to be natural this feels anything but.

 

[1muttsfan]

I would not pull her off the nest if avoidable. As long as you regularly got her off the nest during brooding, and she ate, drank and pooped regularly, she will be fine. Some hens do not budge off the nest during their entire 21 day incubation. You may want to set some time limit on how long she stays on the nest, though (10 days more would be an awful long time).

 

[1muttsfan]

I would not pull her off the nest if avoidable. As long as you regularly got her off the nest during brooding, and she ate, drank and pooped regularly, she will be fine. Some hens do not budge off the nest during their entire 21 day incubation. You may want to set some time limit on how long she stays on the nest, though (10 days more would be an awful long time).

 

[whatsthequestion]

I would not pull her off the nest if avoidable. As long as you regularly got her off the nest during brooding, and she ate, drank and pooped regularly, she will be fine. Some hens do not budge off the nest during their entire 21 day incubation. You may want to set some time limit on how long she stays on the nest, though (10 days more would be an awful long time).

Thank you! I opened her brooder this afternoon while working in the coop. It was really warm. She ran the hens out, darted outside for a quick bathroom trip, and ran back in. I think I am overthinking this. Happy note, I did see signs of more chicks starting to peck out!

 

[1muttsfan]

I would definitely recommend that in the future you separate your broody hens into a private area where other chickens cannot lay eggs, bother them, or have access to the babies until they are at least three or four weeks old. Remember that if they were free ranging she would have isolated herself away from the other birds on her own, to protect her eggs and babies.

 

[whatsthequestion]

I would definitely recommend that in the future you separate your broody hens into a private area where other chickens cannot lay eggs, bother them, or have access to the babies until they are at least three or four weeks old. Remember that if they were free ranging she would have isolated herself away from the other birds on her own, to protect her eggs and babies.

I really appreciated your advice. It was very helpful. We made a better separate brooding area that the hens can use next time. It did take an additional 10 days for all the eggs to hatch. My hen dealt with it like a pro but I wouldn't want to allow that to happen again. She got fairly thin, even with me offering food at the nest. Fortunately, she is doing well and all the chicks are healthy and are fully integrated into the flock.