My hen hatched 7 chicks over the weekend. she isnt sitting the nest anymore but she still has eggs in the nest box but she had the rest out in the pen with the big chickens. 2 drowned. I found 1 chick in the nestbox that recently hatched(yesterday).. thought it was dead... today momma is out in the run . she has been out there everytime I look.(i left the rest of the eggs in for a couple of days to make sure no more was gonna hatch.) today I find 2 more eggs hatched... Is it possible the texas heat is enough that momma doesnt have to sit them? my mom says its like pop corn.
Very possible. I once heard a story where someone threw some eggs in a trash can that didn't hatch. I few days later when they we walking by the trash can they heard peeping and there were two healthy and happy chicks in the can. Congrats on your new chicks!!!
My broody has been the opposite. She leaves the newly hatched chicks out in the run by themselves and goes back to the nest. I have been collecting them as they hatch because they are getting stepped on by the big chickens. She is actually the second broody on this nest though. The first one (a silkie) kicked all of the eggs out of the nest and left the nest. Then this hen came and gathered the eggs all up and has been sitting on them ever since. So far she has been very good at hatching, but not so good at tending to the chicks. and she is off the nest a lot too, but she goes back every night. I think it has been warm enough, even up here in Northern Illinois, to keep the eggs warm, so Texas is probably warm enough as well.
When using a bator the eggs are at 99.5 degrees for forced air types. I can see how the hen does not need to sit as much with the high temps we have been getting. My broodies have been taking more breaks from the nest due to the heat.
