First hatch with a broody and need help!!!

[Kayclan7]

I’m new to all of this. We have a small flock of 10 hens and intentionally didn’t have a rooster as we just wanted them for eggs for our family.
One of my black hens (they call them SinSinDengs here in Russia. Black hens that lay greeny/blue eggs) went broody. I didn’t want to “break her” so I got her a clutch of 5 eggs from my neighbours.
We had extremely cold weather at the time and I was really worried about leaving her in the coop, so have had her in our garage in a large dog cage which I have set up for her. Sunday was day 21. We heard chirping and on day 22 we had our first hatch.
It’s now day 24 and I checked the remaining eggs. I float tested the two whole eggs. One was a sinker and the other was full term. No sign of movement though. I have one other egg with a tiny pip and one that has a large hole with a live chick. It seems all dry inside. She has been like this for 24 hours.
My broody is now starting to get up a bit to teach her new chick to feed etc. she will only stay off for a few minutes, but I’m starting to wonder whether I should help this chick hatch!!
The air seems very dry here. We don’t have an incubator so that is not an option.
Help!!! What can I do??

 

[Teila]

Hey Kayclan7

I personally have no experience with assisted hatching but while we wait for someone more experienced to come along, you may want to check out this article:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching.64660/

Or, post on this thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...s-bantychooks-and-more.1137467/#post-17631705

Best wishes and good luck!

 

[Kayclan7]

Chick hatched! All seems ok, except she seems to have the curly toes. So will bandaid her feet in the morning. She has all curled up under her mummah’s wings and I didn’t want to disturb her.
Two more eggs which I think won’t progress, but we’ll see if there is any last minute action tomorrow (day 25).

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Any time that it is cold then LOW humidity goes along with the cold temps. In fact the Arctic and the Antarctic are deserts on the order of the Kalahari or the Gobi Desert with less than 10 inches of annual precipitation on average. Good luck.

 

[Kayclan7]

Any time that it is cold then LOW humidity goes along with the cold temps. In fact the Arctic and the Antarctic are deserts on the order of the Kalahari or the Gobi Desert with less than 10 inches of annual precipitation on average. Good luck.

Yeah not ideal conditions here in Siberia!!!!
So first to hatch was completely healthy and textbook on day 21/22. Second who I spoke of here and who I assisted slightly is slightly deformed. She had curly feet so I taped them and she is just slightly wonky. Her tail section seems a bit off and she potentially had pasty butt so I sorted her out.
Other eggs didn’t get very far. One was an early quit and the other had a pip, but was small and weak and ended up shrink wrapped.

So there was my first experience all because I didn’t want to “break” a broody.

It was fun. I’m glad I did it. If any go broody again I’d do it for fun. Next time I would give a clutch of 10 and probably use a humidifier in the cage with her.