Hatching Under a Broody Hen

[WVduckchick]

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.

I am a hands-on hatcher. If there's a chance of saving one, I'm usually gonna try it. I also know that some won't make it anyway, and there may be a reason they "shouldn't" make it, but I'm willing to deal with the consequences if that's the case.

So if you feel that way, leave them as long as you feel they could be alive. Watch for the air cells to draw down, or for internal pips. Not much you can do before that point anyway.

 

[song of joy]

I would not recommend helping unless an egg already has an external pip, and the chick has failed to zip & hatch within 12 to 18 hours of the external pip.

 

[aart]

I would not recommend helping unless an egg already has an external pip, and the chick has failed to zip & hatch within 12 to 18 hours of the external pip.

Agrees.
Chances are if chick was alive, and stayed that way, it may be somehow deficient and would not thrive long term.
But I guess you have nothing to lose if you wanted to try, tho it could be traumatic as risk is high.

I don't think mama's gonna take that/those chicks. Then you may end up with only one chick which is going be a challenge.

Tough situation.

 

[Arya28]

Ok so none of the other eggs had pipped. The new hatched chick is dry, so we just moved her out with mama. She accepted her, and now she is sleeping under mama with the other chicks.

We also candled the 7 remaining eggs, and tapped and listened.... nothing when we tapped and listened, so it doesn't seem like any of them pipped internally yet. We took 4 eggs out who definitely had stopped developing (and one which was rotting). The other three we left in- 2 of which we think have a good chance of hatching. The air cell looks good, they don't stink, and there are no clear fluid spots. So NOW if we hear any peeping we will know it's coming from one of those eggs! Lol.

I don't know if they will hatch or not, but we are thrilled we have as many healthy chicks as we do!

 

[Arya28]

If anyone wants to help identify sex/breed of these chicks, I started a thread here!

 

[aart]

She accepted her, and now she is sleeping under mama with the other chicks.

Great!! Whew! I was a little worried about that one chick.

 

[stephcraig78]

No babies yet. I was wondering about her “husband”. So far he has been staying with her at night and roaming with the others during day. Should I put him in the main coop from now on? Will roosters kill babies? If eggs are close to hatching will hen stay on nest constantly? She got off it again today to eat and drink and get some sunshine. But only about 20 minutes total.

 

[MageofMist]

No babies yet. I was wondering about her “husband”. So far he has been staying with her at night and roaming with the others during day. Should I put him in the main coop from now on? Will roosters kill babies? If eggs are close to hatching will hen stay on nest constantly? She got off it again today to eat and drink and get some sunshine. But only about 20 minutes total.

It all depends on the rooster, but mine made a very good father, calling them over to food and letting them snuggle him... Even though he sent his babies flying when dustbathing.

 

[WVduckchick]

x2 MageofMist. All depends on the rooster. I would lean toward most being ok with chicks, but it will depend on the rest of the flock too.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

My rooster are good with chicks.

My teenagers are not.

My only concern with the last hatching chick would be if it wasn't mobile enough to follow the rest of the brood yet.

Congratulations on your hatch!!!