Found out daughter left an egg in nesting box to see if would hatch...have questions...

[amyedoug]

My 13 yr old daughter takes care of the chickens. She is away this week so her sister and I are in charge of the chickens. We found an egg that has a black 'x" on it and asked my daughter. Seems she left an egg in the nest to see if it would hatch. She said it has been about 2-3 wks and yes there is a rooster involved. Now 3 bantam hens are sitting in the same nesting box on the egg and are not happy about being moved to check for eggs...which have been slim pickings recently, I am guessing bc of "the egg". We are going away tomorrow for 2 days and are afraid what will happen if the chick hatches while we are gone...if there even is a chick. We have not hatched chicks before, are relatively new to the chicken raising...have been doing it for less than a year. Any advice or helpful hints would be appreciated!

 

[mstricer]

You can take the egg in a dark room and use a led light to see if it is growing. It should be fine if it hatches one of the hens should be happy to care for it.

 

[hdowden]

it takes 21 days for an egg to hatch. i wouldnt candle unless it was day 25 and there was no hatching. if it hatches while you are gone thats alright the hen should take care of it...they arent laying due to the one egg, they are broody and wanting to sit and a broody hen does not lay and a hen with chicks will not lay either (or at least ours hasnt laid) mom chicken will show the chicks what to eat and were water is

 

[amyedoug]

Thanks so much for you help! Will see how it turns out.

 

[amyedoug]

Ok so now we have a chick....a little black bantam. 3 hens are still sitting on the chick. It was hatched sometime btw 9pm and 9am. I moved the brown hen to see the baby and the other one pecked at the chick and then the brown hen came over and covered the chick again...should I be concerned? What do I do with the chick now? Do the hens take care of it? What about the rooster?

 

[muddychicken2]

my rooster is very protective over little chicks but will not let any hens go near it he likes to take care of them its weird but you shouldn't have to worry unless he goes after the chick then you should move the chick

 

[efanie]

I am so happy for you what a great morning

 

[theoldchick]

I say let the hens work out chick-sitting duties. Congratulations!

 

[amyedoug]

Do I need to have different food for the chick? I have Layena Crumbles for the rest of the flock. How does it eat? Sorry for all the questions, but I am VERY new at this! This started out as the follow thru of a promise to the kids and now has turned into a family hobby. We are learning more every day.

 

[Debs55]

The chick should not eat the layer feed because of the extra calcium in it. It should eat chick starter or starter/grower. Or if you do not want to seperate the hen and baby you can feed everyone flock raiser