Hatching Under a Broody Hen

[Arya28]

Update: Day 27

So today mama hen decided she was done sitting on the eggs. We moved them to the incubator, thinking maybe they’ll hatch, but not really knowing.

We go to the store for a couple hours and come back and one has pipped!!! It’s rocking and rolling and pipping... if we hadn’t moved it to the incubator I think it would have gotten too chilled... I think we caught it just in time!

But also, by the time we were back from the store 2 eggs had yolk oozing out of them... we took them out. I think if mama would have kept sitting on them they would’ve exploded. Maybe that’s why she got off.

Anyway we have one hatching which makes us think maybe more will!!! And all the other chicks are doing extremely well.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Update: Day 27

So today mama hen decided she was done sitting on the eggs. We moved them to the incubator, thinking maybe they’ll hatch, but not really knowing.

We go to the store for a couple hours and come back and one has pipped!!! It’s rocking and rolling and pipping... if we hadn’t moved it to the incubator I think it would have gotten too chilled... I think we caught it just in time!

But also, by the time we were back from the store 2 eggs had yolk oozing out of them... we took them out. I think if mama would have kept sitting on them they would’ve exploded. Maybe that’s why she got off.

Anyway we have one hatching which makes us think maybe more will!!! And all the other chicks are doing extremely well.

Congrats! Might want to sniff test the other eggs or candle them to make sure there aren't anymore bombs...

 

[WVduckchick]

Update: Day 27

So today mama hen decided she was done sitting on the eggs. We moved them to the incubator, thinking maybe they’ll hatch, but not really knowing.

We go to the store for a couple hours and come back and one has pipped!!! It’s rocking and rolling and pipping... if we hadn’t moved it to the incubator I think it would have gotten too chilled... I think we caught it just in time!

But also, by the time we were back from the store 2 eggs had yolk oozing out of them... we took them out. I think if mama would have kept sitting on them they would’ve exploded. Maybe that’s why she got off.

Anyway we have one hatching which makes us think maybe more will!!! And all the other chicks are doing extremely well.

So how many possibles do you have?

 

[gimmie birdies]

yeah!

 

[Arya28]

So how many possibles do you have?

9 chicks already hatched + 1 hatching + 7 more possibles

 

[Arya28]

When it hatches, how long should we wait to stick it with mama? Just until it dries off?

 

[MageofMist]

When it hatches, how long should we wait to stick it with mama? Just until it dries off?

I prefer to wait until they dry off to prevent them from being chilled, but I did put a late hatching chick under my mama hen once while it was still damp and it dried off and fluffed up fine, but it is still a risk.

 

[aart]

When it hatches, how long should we wait to stick it with mama? Just until it dries off?

I'd wait until it dried off.....hopefully mama will accept the bator chicks.
Then there's the 'how many chicks can one broody keep warm' aspect of this situation. How many did she hatch...and how many in the bator??

Best of cLuck!

 

[Arya28]

Update: Day 28 (well, for most of the eggs- remember we don’t know when the hen collected them all).

The egg that pipped last night has hatched! It’s a beautiful little girl. She’s not all the way dry, so we will wait just a little longer before giving her to mama (and to see if she encourages the other eggs to pip!)

There’s 9 chicks under mama in the garage... 1 chick in the bator and 7 more eggs.

So I am curious to know your answers to this... I know the answer is generally no.

If the others don’t pip soon- say, by later tonight or tomorrow- would you try to help any hatch? I know you’re usually not supposed to intervene. But the reason I’m asking is when we did our last batch in the incubator, there were 10 eggs left (who we eggtopsied) that were dead- but they definitely hadn’t been dead for long. We think if we would have just helped a little sooner that they might have been able to be saved. Would anyone consider it?

Now remember, day 28 is the day we started counting from when we found her... some eggs she added earlier, some later.

Any advice, or should we just keep waiting? We candled a couple last night, and the ones we candled looked good, but it’s so hard to tell when they fill up the egg like that. We think there’s a good chance some (if not all) are still alive.

 

[gimmie birdies]

since you don't know the dates on some of the eggs I would say no on opening any eggs. So neat you hatched out so many. I gave away my roosters so the eggs I set, for the Christmas hatch along were not fertile, I knew that was a possibility, but I had just hatched out chicks around Thanksgiving then I gave away my roos, and was hopeful my hens were still fertile. Now I have to wait for the roosters I kept to grow a pair. Have fun with your babies!