I am so lost. This is the first year I have a rooster - so first year with Broody hens. I know how to care for baby chicks and have hatched my own but never had a hen hatch them. What do I do? Here's the slight dilemma. I have no idea how many she is sitting on since two of my hens kept steeling everyone elses eggs as they were laid & the kept switching. I honestly did not think they would hatch since they kept fighting over them. One is pipping (YEAH), and 2 still look to be a few days to a week away. Can't tell on the others since it is hard to tell which egg you have already candled when she is sitting on them and the rooster is giving me an evil stink eye! Do I take it out when this little one hatches? Will she still sit on the others if one hatched and the others don't? Are the other chickens going to pick on them? What about food? We feed our chicks medicated. Which is bad for momma but the momma food is bad for babies, how the heck do you segregate that? Oh gosh am I rambling I feel like I am hatching them in an incubator, nervouse momma all over again!
First you need to breathe ! The good thing about having the hen do all of the work is that the hen does all the work. Many isolate their mamas and babies to prevent picking by the other birds. Some let them stay with the flock. Read through some older threads and decide what is best for you. Medicated food is not as important in broody raised chicks as it is in brooder raised chicks because the babies gain natural immunity from exposure to the mother's feces. It doesn't mean that broody raised chicks can't get cocci but the chances are not as great with "indoors" raised birds who go from no exposure to full exposure in a short period of time. I would use the "wait and see" approach as far as the other eggs. If she stops sitting on the nest, then you may have to finish the incubation yourself or put them under another broody. Good luck and congratulations on your first natural hatch.
