early hatching, bloody navel, hen hatch

[tamraclovw]

Hi everyone! This is my first hatch. My hen went broody, so we gave her 12 eggs. She got rid of 4, then 2 exploded - rotten. She is not due to hatch until Wednesday, but it is Sunday night and I just went out to find a partially hatched chick that she must have thrown out, on the sawdust below her box. Chick was cool but breathing. I finished breaking it out - the whole body was out, only the head still in the shell, not stuck. I have 15 eggs in an incubator, so I put the chick in there to warm up.

I googled quickly, and bloody navel/early hatch was supposed to indicate high temp, which is definitely true in my hen house.

Any recommendations? I will watch out for more chicks in the morning, will they survive having grown too fast?

Any comments appreciated!

 

[tamraclovw]

also, do I remove the egg rotation tray and lay the eggs on the screen for the hatch?

 

[sumi]

I've had eggs hatch on day 18 under a broody and the chicks were fine. I suspect in her case it was because her eggs were a bit on the small side (she was a bantam X). My regular LF eggs all took 21 days or more. For the one with the bloody navel, dab a little antibiotic cream, or ointment (one without painkiller) on the area to help prevent infection.

Second question: I'd recommend removing the turner tray and laying them flat when you lock down. It would minimise risk of the chicks injuring themselves and make hatching a bit easier for them too.

 

[tamraclovw]

Thanks! I'm pretty sure my first little guy died. I left him in the incubator last night, but he had stopped breathing. Either from cold, or because when I took the shell I removed the rest of the slime from the navel before it dried up, and he bled. Obviously I see that I shouldn't do that now. Poor guy, victim of a first timer (me!).

I'll go out and check on mama in a few minutes and report back!

 

[tamraclovw]

Yes, first chick had definitely died, threw it out. Then an egg that was supposed to hatch today exploded on me as I moved it from the turner... still ventilating the house. Mama won't let me near her, so I guess time will tell!

 

[tamraclovw]

Mama threw out another chick - she pecked it's leg off... Cold and dead when I found it. I was getting pretty concerned, but she has a peeper under her, and I managed to brave her fury and lift her up. She has one chick, whole, well and 1/2 dry which she carefully tucked back under her. Another egg was rocking, so hopefully that one will be a winner too!

As a first time mother, I am assuming that she just didn't know what was going on when the first 2 hatched. She was probably defending her nest... from the chicks? She was gentle with the new chick, so I think she's got the picture now. Is this normal from a new mother?

I have a brood pen ready for them. I will move them tonight after dark, and hopefully avoid the pecking. I bet she is going to be starving!! I think she only got off the nest once a day, and only pecked up a few pieces of corn. 2 minutes, tops.

My incubator eggs should be hatching all this week, and I plan to sneak them to her each evening after dark. Anything else I should know about? And here I thought I was ready...

Thanks everyone!

 

[sumi]

New mothers are unpredictable creatures, but generally their instincts are pretty strong and they know what to do when hatch day arrives. I have had some so-so mothers that seemed a bit clueless at first and one broody that rejected her chick, but none that actually killed their chicks. It can happen though. No 2 hens are the same and it's hard to say what to expect and what is "normal". It is possible that the second chick was "stillborn" and she accidentally took it's leg off. Other hens may eat their dead chicks. It's "normal", instinctive behaviour, to remove anything from the nest that can attract predators.

Don't move the hen until all the chicks have finished hatching. Broody hens usually get up around 2-3 days after the first chick hatched, to take care of the chicks that hatched and they will leave any unhatched eggs. So wait until she's showing signs of getting ready, you will see when she is. In the meantime you can offer your hen some water at least. By the 3rd day I usually offer the hen and chicks some food in the nest as well, but only a bit to keep her going. Feeding them can make them relieve themselves in the nest and broody poops are messy, as I'm sure you know!

The incubator chicks: wait until after dark before adding them to her clutch and keep an eye on them in the morning to see if she accepts them. This method of slipping under her when she's sleepy usually works quite well. But she may not be to keen on the newbies, so watch out for them and see how she responds.

Offer the hen and the chicks chick starter. The hen can eat it too. Just don't give the chicks layer feed, the high calcium content harms their kidneys. Give them water in shallow water dishes and put some clean pebbles or marbles in to prevent drowning and soaked chicks. Small chicks are very clumsy! Make sure you re-introduce the hen and her chicks to the rest of the flock before she weans them (at around 5-7 weeks). This will give the chicks a chance to meet the rest of the flock and be accepted by them while still under the hen's protection.

Enjoy them!

 

[tamraclovw]

Thanks so much for the advice! At this point, she is down to 2 - one egg that is hatched, and one with a 1/2" hole and beak poking out. So she ought to be finished hatching by tonight. I have always started my chicks directly on my Aqua Miser nipples with no problem, and I have 2 low nipples (for the chicks) in the brood box and a high one for the hen. In fact, chicks from the feed store who are used to drinking from a fountain took me over a week to transition. Fresh-shipped chicks started on the nipples in less than an hour.

My brood box is about 2'x4', 2' high and it is sitting on grass. The "weather" side is wrapped in roofing paper, and it has a plywood roof. The other 2 sides are open with hardware cloth. I've used it lots with shipped chicks, and it has worked well. I am wondering about introducing the chicks to the flock. I know that Mama will protect them, but the chicks will be too small to climb up into the hen house. The big chickens shelter from the sun underneath my hen house (up on blocks), and I'm guessing that Mama will just nest them in there? Would it be a better plan for me to simply open up the brooder and let Mama and chicks sleep in there at night for as long as they want? Should I start out with it open, or still give them 6ish weeks? I want them on grass ASAP, but I can just scoot it every few days to a fresh spot.

Your thoughts have been invaluable - thank you so much!!

Note: The chicks are probably Red Sex Link with Black Copper Marans Father. The first chick to hatch would have been yellow, the poor one with the leg was black, the surviving fluff-ball is yellow with 2 big black spots, and the remaining chick in the egg looks rather black - through it's little hole. Hopefully they will lay dark eggs! I wonder if the sex-link trait will come through - Yellow for female, black for male? We shall see...

 

[sumi]

How about putting the broody box where the other's can see the chicks and leave it closed for the first 1-2 weeks and after that open it so mom and chicks can mingle with the flock? Then leave it open so they can go back in there at night?

I'd love to see those surviving chicks! It's no use you describe them to me

I pic is worth a 1000 words or something like that... LOL

 

[tamraclovw]

Yeah, that's along the lines of what I was thinking. With my spring mail-order chicks, I had them in the brooder inside the run, and when I finally let them out to mingle - things went better than they might have. I have a solid-top pallet in the run for chicks to hide under, and that worked really well too. I'll move my brooder out into the chicken's pasture, and open it in a couple of weeks. Sounds like a solid plan!

Thanks! I'll get pics - maybe tonight when I move them.