Different hatch dates for eggs under a broody girl 1st hatched

Mom2Cool

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OK so I've a broody hen that's been on a nest for a couple weeks. When she first went broody she'd been on her nest for a few days (I think it was five days) and the 1 day she decided to take a break in the yard she'd gotten shut out of the coop & I didn't realize this for more than a few hours.... I'd opened the coop & she'd gone right back in & so I thought she'd go back to it etc. When I checked on her later she was in a different box & the original egg still in the original box she was in. Since it had been a good few days I thought it a waste to just toss it, I didn't have the bator set up for it & so I just slipped it back under her. At the same time I really thought that it would have gotten too cold by then & wouldn't hatch & I didn't want her sitting on something that would never hatch so I'd slipped some fresh eggs under her too. So now I just had a chick hatch & I'm wondering if it's going to be 5 days before the others follow?? Is this an issue that I should intervien with or should I just leave well enough alone? It wasn't until yesterday when it had hatched that I had hubby corner off a section of the coop with her on it & really I can't imagine *anyone challenging her* & the other chickens all just seemed ok with it all, but I thought it might be a good idea to at least block her off. Anyway any thoughts here would be appreciated & since I'm on this topic should I be offering something special for this chick to eat that won't be an issue for heer to eat too?
 
You should be feeding her and her baby chick starter feed. About the eggs and different hatch dates you may have to take the others out and incubate them for the last couple of days. She will be leaving the nest more and more with her little chick/s. 5 days isn't a very big time difference so she may still sit on them enough to hatch them out. But I would keep a close eye on her and how often she leaves the nest with the chick. Good luck.
 
Mahlzeit, thanks for the quick reply. I kind of have her & the box she's in cornered off in the coop & she's on the side closes to the little door they use that leads to the penned area. I thought that would be best for when she wants to take them out but want to keep them separate from the rest of the flock. Anyway I had not thought to let her really go outside just yet & so for her to take her chick out would only be a few feet into the coop to eat. I just watched her get up & turn around & set back down. She didn't seem to abandon them but of course she doesn't have all that far to go..
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Whoever said that broodiness is being bred out or discouraged out of hens forgot to tell my girls....
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I actually have another hen that's broody too & on 1 egg. hubby moved her for me last week & she hated the box he set up for her & so just pulled the egg out to a different place in the other coop she's in & sat back on it there. It's been a very interesting time here...

Anyway thanks for the tips & I'll try to update the thread too. I'm trying not to panic & such because she seems to be doing what she's suppose to so.
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Oh & boy a sweetheart BO that would never hurt a fly can change her tune in a heartbeat when she's broody on a nest....
 
Oh & I hadn't thought that 5 days would be all that big of a difference & that's kind of why I'd just left it be but then I found myself sitting here thinking "Ok now what?" LOL
 
BTW I must say that there is just nothing cuter than a newly hatched Buff Orpington.... I swear they look just like the sugar peeps we eat at Easter time.
 

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