Eggs started hatching under broody. Now what?

[Gardenlady2]

I have a Welsummer sitting on 4 eggs. Monday was day 20, and I was away from home all day. I went out Tuesday morning, day 21, and found a tiny black head peaking out from underneath mama hen's feathers!!!! I haven't seen any others yet. I'm afraid to move her to check in case others are trying to hatch. This is my first broody so I'm excited & nervous!
When is it okay to move her? How long do I wait after first chick hatched before giving up on other eggs? Today is day 22. The one I've seen likely hatched on day 20 or very early on day 21. She's in a nest box 2ft above ground so I have a box ready to set up on the floor for her & the chicks.

 

[Judy]

You can leave her alone and let her take care of everything. She will get up and take the chicks out when she feels it's time. 2' is definitely nothing to worry about. Plenty of chicks have hatched in halofts well above the barn floor, and jumped down on day 3 or so when it was time to find food. She won't try to take them back to the present nest, of course. She will find a spot, or her chicks will, and she will just cover them.

Once they are out and about, they can be with the rest of the flock, and she should protect them. Most of the time, by far, this is not a problem. If a hen gets a little aggressive or even just too close, she will run her off, she will protect her. Roosters often help with chicks, and generally just ignore them if they don't help out.

All you need to do is remove any layer feed and feed the flock whatever you planned for the chicks.

 

[Gardenlady2]

Thank you!!
I'll go ahead and put the new "nest" on the coop floor so they can use it when they come down. Mt chickens free range for most of their food, but I'll starting giving them chick feed twice a day instead of layer feed once a day. My older birds are going to be spoiled pigs for a while since I can't just feed the new ones based on my setup. I also have 16 that are 8 weeks old today. They are still locked up in a grow-out shelter, so we're at 3 age groups now. I'll probably let them out to join the rest of the flock soon; only thing holding me back at this point is their size & hawks. Hopefully the new babies will be okay outside since they'll have mama to take care of them.

I was just out there and stood outside the nest to listen. I heard quite a bit of peeping and mama clucking. Through a tiny opening I saw mama was facing the opposite direction she had been early this morning and seemed to be off to one side of the nest and looking down, so maybe another one is hatching. This is such an amazing thing to experience!

 

[Gardenlady2]

I was able to sneak a peak when I saw mama hop out for a drink. There are two now!!
Mama even started checking out the new nest box on the ground.