- Aug 22, 2013
- 6
- 0
- 7
We are hen-sitting for our neighbor. He has no roosters, but had a broody hen who was just NOT getting over it. So he got some fertilized eggs from another family and put the five of them under the hen. Oooooh, is she happy!
Fast forward two weeks, we are caring for the hens while he is away. My kids lovingly feed and water them every day, extract the newly laid eggs and speak in dulcet tones...
But then - tragedy! One of the eggs gets broken. We clean out the debris when we see it that night. She keeps sitting on the other four. Several days later, one of the eggs is just _missing_. We look everywhere for it, no sign of it. We assume it was a crittur. Two days later, this morning, they go to let the hens out and there are two more broken. The bodies of the chicks with some blood lie in the nest. Kids come home and report this, daughter grabbed the last egg and brought it with her for protection. I ask if they cleaned out the bodies, they did not. We go back, planning to put the one egg back under the brooding mama and clean away the bodies... but they are gone, and the other hens are crowding the nest box.
We don't put that lone egg back, we bring it home. We read on the internet that sometimes hens will eat the eggs. We read that hatching needs constant temp and humidity. We read that it's tough to have a lone chick. We read that hens don't adopt chicks unless they are broody.
We believe it is within 3 days of hatching time. We've put it in a box with some rags and a light and a candy thermometer.
QUESTIONS:
does it need anything damp for humidity at this point?
Will the mama take it back after hatching since she's sat on it so long?
Were we silly to take it away?
Fast forward two weeks, we are caring for the hens while he is away. My kids lovingly feed and water them every day, extract the newly laid eggs and speak in dulcet tones...
But then - tragedy! One of the eggs gets broken. We clean out the debris when we see it that night. She keeps sitting on the other four. Several days later, one of the eggs is just _missing_. We look everywhere for it, no sign of it. We assume it was a crittur. Two days later, this morning, they go to let the hens out and there are two more broken. The bodies of the chicks with some blood lie in the nest. Kids come home and report this, daughter grabbed the last egg and brought it with her for protection. I ask if they cleaned out the bodies, they did not. We go back, planning to put the one egg back under the brooding mama and clean away the bodies... but they are gone, and the other hens are crowding the nest box.
We don't put that lone egg back, we bring it home. We read on the internet that sometimes hens will eat the eggs. We read that hatching needs constant temp and humidity. We read that it's tough to have a lone chick. We read that hens don't adopt chicks unless they are broody.
We believe it is within 3 days of hatching time. We've put it in a box with some rags and a light and a candy thermometer.
QUESTIONS:
does it need anything damp for humidity at this point?
Will the mama take it back after hatching since she's sat on it so long?
Were we silly to take it away?