Hatching Under a Broody Hen

[aart]

We put her down to carefully inspect the situation, and her down was wrapped around their necks! We carefully had to trim it off her and then pull it off the chicks... but we are super lucky we found them because they would’ve been strangled!

I had this happen with the one broody I've let set, who hatched in a frigid Feb, I was able to 'save' chick because I had gotten broody used to me touching her and peeking under.
Best of cLuck on the rest of this hatch!

 

[Arya28]

I had this happen with the one broody I've let set, who hatched in a frigid Feb, I was able to 'save' chick because I had gotten broody used to me touching her and peeking under.
Best of cLuck on the rest of this hatch!

Thank you for the link to your thread! I will take a look. Yeah, we saved both of them but it was pretty nerve-wracking seeing that! Our broody is used to us touching her too.

So 9 out of 19 have hatched... there’s 10 eggs left who haven’t pipped yet. Should we leave them under her or move them to the incubator?

 

[song of joy]

Thank you for the link to your thread! I will take a look. Yeah, we saved both of them but it was pretty nerve-wracking seeing that! Our broody is used to us touching her too.

So 9 out of 19 have hatched... there’s 10 eggs left who haven’t pipped yet. Should we leave them under her or move them to the incubator?

At this point, I'd recommend pulling all of the unhatched eggs, candling them, and putting the good ones in the incubator. That will allow the hen to give all of her attention to the chicks, who need to eat, drink, move around, and learn to follow mom and obey her vocalizations. It will also make it easier for the chicks to position themselves under her for warmth.

If she started incubating all of the eggs at the same time, you may not see any more hatch, but it's worth a try.

 

[gimmie birdies]

The cold weather my delay a hatch. You should not be able to clearly see into an egg after day 16 or so. Give them more time. Good luck to the hatch! Neat that some hatched, I would let mom hatch them and move the hatched ones to a brooder. Give' back when hatch complete.

 

[song of joy]

The cold weather my delay a hatch. You should not be able to clearly see into an egg after day 16 or so. Give them more time. Good luck to the hatch! Neat that some hatched, I would let mom hatch them and move the hatched ones to a brooder. Give' back when hatch complete.

That's another valid approach, but if the already-hatched chicks are separated from the hen for 4 or 5 days while the remaining eggs hatch (if they do), the hen is not likely to accept them back due to the long separation time. It seems like there's a substantial risk of breaking the mother-chick bond.

 

[Arya28]

The cold weather my delay a hatch. You should not be able to clearly see into an egg after day 16 or so. Give them more time. Good luck to the hatch! Neat that some hatched, I would let mom hatch them and move the hatched ones to a brooder. Give' back when hatch complete.

If we had the hen in a barn we would do this.... we did end up moving mama and her eggs and babies to the garage so it’s a little warmer. It’s not too hot, but they have a lamp so if an egg gets knocked out it won’t freeze right away, and so if the chicks run around they won’t freeze either (since there’s so many of them). We just didn’t want to risk them getting chilled.

So they are all in a very large brooder we just built, and the chicks have room to run around (so they don’t just crowd the eggs). We did this so we can leave them together. We still thought maybe the chicks would be too much for the eggs still under her, but she seems to be doing a great job keeping everyone organized. The chicks are so attaached to her (and she’s VERY protective- she’ll let us pet them but gets off the eggs if we pick any up) so I don’t think moving the chicks from her is an option! Thank you for this advice though

 

[gimmie birdies]

I will remove chicks as the hatch so the mom hatches out the other eggs. I would rather not incubate if the mom is doing a good job. but you have to do what works.

 

[Arya28]

I will remove chicks as the hatch so the mom hatches out the other eggs. I would rather not incubate if the mom is doing a good job. but you have to do what works.

I can totally see that side of it. We left her chicks with her, but am still pondering whether to leave the eggs under her or not- kinda a don’t fix it if it’s not broke thing- because she is doing a fabulous job. I guess we’ll wait and see if we get any pips by later tonight and then go from there.

 

[aart]

If she gets up to take care of chicks thus abandoning eggs,
put any remaining eggs in the bator after candling.

 

[Arya28]

If she gets up to take care of chicks thus abandoning eggs,
put any remaining eggs in the bator after candling.

She gets up very occasionally to eat or drink- and then gets right back on them as of right now. If she seems to be staying off for too long, to take care of the chicks, like you said, we will definitely be moving them. We don’t want them to get too cool. She is on them now though a lot, because she’s keeping the chicks under her a lot too.