First egg hatch

[R1ley]

Hi! One of my hens, Tilly, has gone into brooding mood and sitting under around 20 eggs at the moment. I've never had a hen try to hatch eggs before, so before they do hatch I'd like to get some advice and tips! I also have several questions;

1. Once the baby chickens hatch, should I leave them alone and not touch them/handle them? I'm afraid if I do Tilly will reject them

2. Should I leave them with my hen, or take them inside to raise? I don't have an incubator so I'd have to make my own somehow if I want to do this

3. At the moment Tilly is nesting inside the chicken coop where all the other chickens go in to sleep. Should I separate her and the other chickens/rooster?

4. One of my hens has been laying right next to Tilly in the nesting box, and Tilly doesn't seem to care and they aren't fighting. Does the other hen want to steal or destroy her eggs?

5. Tilly's eggs are brown, however there are four white unknown eggs that Tilly is also sitting on. Another hen definitely laid them, but not sure who and when they hatch will Tilly still look after them?

6. Tilly doesn't peck me or bite when I touch her eggs or lift her off the eggs so she can go eat, she does puff her feathers up and does a little high pitched shrill when I first open the nest box though. Will she try to chase me or peck me if I try to go near the babies when they are hatched?

7. Is it normal that when I lift her up that underneath her it's super hot and her feathers feel kinda sweaty? I'm worried she's overheating
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[PD-Riverman]

I do not know how long yours has been setting but if you are NOT marking and removing her beginning eggs and removing fresh layed eggs daily----you are going to have problems. So this is for just starting broody hens. I am sharing a post I have written long ago by copy/paste to save time---maybe it will answer a lot of your questions including some things you might not know.

""' Always Collect ALL eggs from Every Nest Daily----even if it has a hen setting on it(starting to go broody)----doing that will not allow her to be incubating eggs----till Its time to Incubate eggs. Leaving eggs in the nest then other chickens adding more or you adding more creates a staggered hatch-----a lot of times a staggered hatch creates a lot of stress for her and you----I never want a staggered hatch!!!! You can place a couple fake eggs in her nest if you are wanting to set her in a couple days.

OK now if you want her to set----collect every how many eggs you want to put under her use only what you feel is fertile, layed within the last few days, NONE that might have been under her for most of the day and if you are going to leave her with the rest(I move all mine) you need to clearly mark all the eggs and place them under her at the Same time---not adding any more later and mark your Calendar. EVERY DAY---any time during the day if you want to do it more than once a day, but for sure in the late afternoons you remove any new un-marked eggs and these eggs will be fine for eating. I do that till day 19 and then after that I do not touch her, I do not look under her or nothing until she comes off the nest. Any questions---just ask. Good Luck

One other thing """"""I""""" Would NEVER place food or water near her nest where she can reach them without getting off the nest. I would not offer her treats while she is in the nest---NEVER for "ME". See when the hen eats, she will have to poop, so if she eats in the nest she will have to poop, some times she will leave the nest to do that---some times she will not----ask some on here how much fun it is to clean broody poop off her and her eggs---No fun at all. You want her to get off the eggs to eat and drink and to Poop as well as move her legs. Some hens might not get off the nest for a couple days, but to let you know---I have set 150+/- in the last 3 years and I have never lost a hen that was brooding---not even one that looks sick. I have never feed them at the nest nor offered a treat.

 

[PD-Riverman]

As far as warm under her---that's normal---should be around 100 degree's. I personally would NOT bother her at all or the chicks while she is hatching, BUT All the eggs under mine are set at the same time so all the chicks hatch with in 24 hours of each other usually. If you have allowed a Staggered hatch, you will need a brooder or a incubator if you are going to try to hatch them---which as I stated above---- a Staggered hatch is NOT something you want---no fun at all for you or her. If she just started setting---I would remove and discard all the eggs and set a clutch of marked eggs under her at one time removing fresh layed/unmarked eggs daily. If she has been setting for a few days----you gotta mark the eggs under her NOW and remove any fresh added daily to STOP the future staggered hatch that has started.

 

[MrsBachbach]

That's a lot of questions. I'll do my best.
Leave chicks alone until mom gets off nest at least. Unless a chick falls out, then tuck it under her wing. She may be protective and not want you to touch them, she may not. Depends on hen. It's unlikely she will reject them. Never had that happen to me.
Yes, it's best she raise them, not take them from her and put in brooder, especially if she hatched them!
Ideally, she should have her a safe space to raise her chicks and not have to protect them from the other hens who may try to peck at them. So an adjoining pen or wired off area in existing pen would be nice. A straw filled dog kennel might work for a shelter to roost at night. She will be on ground nesting with them every night with chicks under her. So, nest she is in now should be ground level.
Don't take hen off nest while incubating eggs!! Once they get serious about incubating, they will "lock down" and stay on nest for first three or more days. This is very important to successful incubation of eggs, just as the last three days of incubation are very important to hatching and hen is on lockdown then too, just like we lockdown when using incubators. Heat and humidity needs to stay constant. Once their eggs get going during initial incubation, they will get off nest themselves for a short period of time to poop, eat and drink. The hen knows how long she can stay off. If weather is cool she may not get off nest, if hot, she may stay off longer.
Yes, it is supposed to be hot and damp under hen.
20 eggs is a lot of eggs for any hen to hatch imo. In fact, I think I see a brown one in front of her. If she can't "cover" them all, they can't incubate properly. I would take the outer eggs away from her, they are unlikely to hatch. How many a hen can incubate really depends on the size of the hen, but I would say for a large hen 12 to 15 is a good number. She will do all the "turning" of the eggs herself and at some point will know which ones are failing to develop and she will roll them away from the nest. It is best that other hens don't keep adding to the pile, which can be difficult to do in a hen house. So, I suggest marking the eggs she is currently on with a pencil so at least you know which ones to leave under her when you collect eating eggs. You can wait til she get's off the nest to do it or wait a few days and then reach under her and remove them one by one, mark them and set them back under her. Yes, she will raise chicks from different eggs, she really won't know the difference. The important thing is, that the chicks developing inside are all within 3 days of age development. So, you don't want to add new eggs to her "clutch" after the first three days, because "lockdown" is three days long and mom will usually get off the nest three days after the first chick hatches, so chicks younger than the others will not have opportunity to hatch.
IF YOU DECIDE TO MOVE HER AND HER EGGS TO A DIFFERENT NEST AREA BEFORE HATCH or even after the chicks are hatched, do it at night. Wait til she is truly in the broody mood, has been sitting at least a week, before you do it. Collect all the eggs from under her, put in carton, move to new nest area (make sure it's comfy) and immediately go get her and set her gently on eggs. She is very unlikely to move from that spot if it's pitch black. It's risky, because she could abandon the nest, so you always want to do it at night and make sure she is really in her incubating mood. If you can move the nest box she is already in, do that instead, it is much better to do that way, but still at night! If you wait to do it, after chicks hatch, it is harder to do that at night, so dusk might be a better time. Mom can still see and call all chicks under her before dark. If you are using a dog carrier for her new nest area, or the nest box has a door you can latch, so much the better. She can't go anywhere and neither can the chicks, so at least they will stay in their nest area for the first night. Just open the door early in morning and she should bring them back there at night again. Don't put water in there though, it may end up spilling and chilling the chicks.

Other hens do sometimes try to steal another hens eggs. Yes. Whether it's because she is going broody, or just wants an egg under her when she gets ready to lay, who knows? If Tilly gets off nest to eat or drink, that's an opportunity for another hen to roll an egg under her or get on Tilly's nest while she lays her egg. The potential problem I see with this is the chance of eggs getting broken (because of shear number of eggs) and you have a yolk mess all over those developing eggs, or hen could take an incubating egg under her nest, lay her egg, leave and Tilly's egg gets cold, because it's unlikely Tilly will retrieve it. So, I just think it's better that a broody hen has her own private broody area.

Hope that answers most of your questions. Make sure you have chick starter and a waterer the chicks can't drown in (no bowls!) and yes, it's fine for mom to eat chick starter. Mom will keep them warm at night or whenever they get chilled, make sure they have shelter out of rain and shade from direct sun and good fencing to keep predators out. Chick grit available in their pen once they get a couple of weeks old. When mom is done raising them you will be able to tell, she will get mean with them to keep them away from her (usually around six weeks old). That's when it's time to let mom go back to flock. You can either keep chicks in separate pen and let them get a little older, or try to introduce them to rest of flock, but be aware, they will need a place to run and hide because they will get pecked and put in their place as far as pecking order. Plenty of pen room is important, along with extra feeders and waterers.

 

[R1ley]

Thank you all for the info! I've decided to take half of the eggs away to incubate myself and leave Tilly with maybe a max of 10 eggs since I don't want her to get overwhelmed. She has just started being broody, around 5 days ago however I haven't been marking the eggs so I will start with that in the morning when I let them out

I have a big empty shed in the fenced area they currently sleep in (they are sleeping in a chicken coop at the moment) so I might try to move all the other chickens into the shed and leave Tilly in the coop, so there isn't a chance for her to get stressed out since I'll be moving the other chickens and not her.