Hatching with 2 broodies

[tommysgirl]

Can someone out there tell me if I messed up?

My Buff is broody again for the 4th time in her first yr. She has never had any eggs to hatch. I only have hens. So, I decided to get some fertile eggs to place under her so she could hatch some babies. I found a man in town who was willing to give me six eggs and he will take the chicks once they hatch. (I just don't need anymore right now. Fourteen is enough for me)

When I picked up the eggs today, they were filthy with egg yolk and poop on them. So, when I came home, before putting the eggs under my hen, I dampened a cloth and wiped the poop and egg yolk off of the them as good as possible without getting them too wet.

Did I ruin the eggs? I will be candling them in about 8 days. I am hoping I didn't do the wrong thing.

Thanks.

Sometimes you have to make a choice between two less than perfect situations. I have heard that yolky eggs should be cleaned exactly as you described so I think you made the right call. Mildly poopy eggs I would probably just give her but if they were filthy they could be a bacterial breeding ground and you could risk the embryos. I am sure that you didn't ruin anything.

I always think that if it could have happened in nature it isn't the end of the world if it happens in our hen houses. Eggs get wet in nature when hens choose weird spots to nest and they still hatch.

@Sonya9 Sorry for your rough luck with hatching. There are so many roosters looking for homes these days. Bless you for giving one a new home!

 

[Cheryl1948]

Thanks Marie. Thanks Tommysgirl. Your responses made me relax considerably!

 

[jools2014]

Another option, if they go broody give them some unfertile eggs to sit on and order some hatching eggs of the breeds you want, then incubate them in a brooder. When the chicks hatch out you have the breeds you desire and you just slip the newly hatched chicks under the broodies at night. With my broodies I gave some fertile eggs (bought on ebay) to one broody and the other one I wasn't sure about (she would leave the nest more frequently), so I incubated some and kept her on duds, when the chicks hatched she got them.

The brinsea incubators aren't cheap (about $140 for the mini that hatches 7 eggs) but they are awesome! They turn the eggs for you. electrically measure the temps, etc...and make it extremely easy to incubate. They are are also a good thing to have on hand even with broodies sitting on eggs "just in case" they lose interest, or even to try and save a cracked egg.

I thought about an incubator, but apart from the price, they sound really complicated with the temp etc. but if you say the one you mentioned is easy, it might be an option. It's worth having one I know in case something goes wrong with the broodies anyway I know.

If I ever get a hatch I'm thinking of moving the broodies and new chicks to this little outhouse, but my issue is that it gets very cold in there, like even quite a bit colder than the hen house the broodies are in now. Would this be an issue for the chicks? Or will they be ok with their two mammas for warmth?

 

[Sonya9]

I thought about an incubator, but apart from the price, they sound really complicated with the temp etc. but if you say the one you mentioned is easy, it might be an option. It's worth having one I know in case something goes wrong with the broodies anyway I know.

If I ever get a hatch I'm thinking of moving the broodies and new chicks to this little outhouse, but my issue is that it gets very cold in there, like even quite a bit colder than the hen house the broodies are in now. Would this be an issue for the chicks? Or will they be ok with their two mammas for warmth?

No, no little outhouses. Find some chicken wire or a dog crate or other easy fencing and make room for them in the warmer hen house. Section off a small area for the hen/chicks and let that be the nest and hatching area. The rest will work out. If you separate the chicks/broody's then that means they have to establish themselves when introduced to the flock, which causes stress for the chicks (and chick stress leads to weakness/deaths), if they are raised with the flock things go easier.

With the Brinsea mini incubator just figure out the ideal temp ahead of time (99.7 f is common for chicken eggs), decide the turn rate (bantam eggs have a smaller turn rate than standard eggs, if I recall the setting is 5 for bantams and 10 for large chicken eggs) and then set the days so the incubator can count down for you. It will also turn off "turning" 3 days before the hatch date. For humidity fill half of the small humidity chamber with water, and then as hatch day approaches fill both halves and cover with the tiny grill. It does not measure the humidity for you, I bought a tiny reptile humidity monitor and put it in the incubator.

Instead of reading the instructions that came with the incubator (they were complicated) I googled and followed the instructions in this video, it worked great and was so simple:

 

[Sonya9]

Happy to say I caught the snake last night!!! Checked the girls at 1 am and they were huddled on the floor, sure enough there was a large ratsnake sitting quietly in the nest box (the place the broody and chicks last slept, glad they were sleeping safely in my kitchen).

I got a pillow case and some gloves and quietly got her to go inside it, she went right in. Took her down the road and let her go in a shady spot near a river this morning.

Video of her being released below, she is about 5' long I would guess. Sooo glad this problem has been resolved.

 

[MistyMountain]

Happy to say I caught the snake last night!!! Checked the girls at 1 am and they were huddled on the floor, sure enough there was a large ratsnake sitting quietly in the nest box (the place the broody and chicks last slept, glad they were sleeping safely in my kitchen).

I got a pillow case and some gloves and quietly got her to go inside it, she went right in. Took her down the road and let her go in a shady spot near a river this morning.

Video of her being released below, she is about 5' long I would guess. Sooo glad this problem has been resolved.

Yay!!

Couldn't help but notice you have some lovely virginia creeper there, too! LOL

 

[jools2014]

Many thanks for the advice on incubators Sonya-very helpful! Vids great, will definitely be referring to it if I get an incubator.
Yeah you're right about not separating them, definitely would make for less problems later on. Luckily I have an old dog crate I can put in the hen house, all should be relatively smooth sailing.

Well done on catching the snake! Quite amazing to see, we don't get anything like that over here (what a relief!) Hope everything can go back to normal for you now

 

[jools2014]

I have had another hatch disaster and need some advice please, sorry it's a bit long. If you remember, I had 2 broodies sitting on 3 eggs last time. One got broken early (by me) and on day 17 I had what I thought was an early pip on another, but with some blood, and the other egg just disappeared. Nothing came of this hatch so I put 4 eggs under the broodies again.

Yesterday was supposed to be hatch day and everything was going fine. Still 4 eggs left, no problems. I heard cheeping and when the broodies got out of the nest one of the eggs had pipped and was chirping loudly. It all looked good and I left them overnight. This morning I went down earlier than usual and so the broodies didn't come off to eat (they usually come off when I let them out later), I wish I had gone down later or waited as what has happened might have made more sense.

I went down this afternoon-I happened to see both hens had come off the nest. I was so looking forward to seeing at least one chick, probably 2 or 3, but there was just 1 egg left that didn't have any pips in it and no chicks. I was so disappointed. I have no idea what could have happened. There were small bits of shell-but not enough to be from 3 eggs, and no sign of any chicks whatsoever, no dead bodies or anything that I could see. It smelt a bit in the nest, but I assume the eggshell smells a bit when the chick hatches out anyway?

So I am left with one egg and no idea what to do-do I just give it to one broody to hatch out in a separate place? Or take the egg off both and try and hatch it myself? I have 2 ideas of what could've happened-either the broodies killed the chicks themselves and ate them whole (I find it hard to believe as they are lovely chickens who rarely peck me even when broody, though who knows when it comes to chicks), or mice/rats got in in the night (I don't think they could as I blocked off where they get in and besides, the mommas would be sitting on the eggs/chicks) Or maybe mice got in when the broodies came off their nest this morning (we do have problems with mice and rats getting in during the day when the coop door is open) though I admit I listened for cheeping and looked for any chicks sticking out under the hens this morning but heard/saw nothing which leads me to believe it happened in the night and it was the broodies. Did one kill the others chicks? Did they both kill them?

I'm wishing now that both hens hadn't gone broody, actually I'm wishing I never bought these 2 hens and the cockerel I got with them for hatching chicks and tried this in the first place. I read someone had said never have 2 broodies together as they will kill the others chicks but then others had said they'd had no problems with 2 broodies. Now I'm not going to try again, especially not with these 2, who are my only birds that are the broody type anyway. I can't believe it all went wrong in the end, I had at least one alive baby chick and now it's dead somehow, along with 2 other eggs that had probably pipped in the night too. I suppose I'm at least glad I see no evidence of the dead chicks, that would be heartbreaking.

It really is a mystery, my hens are Buff Orps and whether it's a coincidence or not I read a couple of people mentioning dead chicks killed my their mothers and the broodies happened to be Buff Orps, though I think they had evidence of the dead chicks. Maybe they killed the chicks and then when they got off the nest to eat, mice got in and took the bodies? Ugh it's all so depressing. I was going to separate the hens into a little area when all chicks had hatched so they'd be safe-I didn't want to risk moving them before any hatches as I thought it might break their broodiness since one time before I moved a hen so it couldn't get into it's favourite box and it stopped being broody. I must be incredibly unlucky!

 

[16 paws]

Jools,

First of all I totally understand your frustration and your feelings of loss, heartbreak and what if's. I went through the same thing on quite a few hatches myself. Missing eggs, dead chicks and not ever really knowing what happened. My Jersey Giant may have killed some of her hatched eggs also. She is a great Mom to grafted in newborn chicks but for some reason I think that she sees the newborn chicks hatching under her a threat somehow. Like I said, I never really found out what happened but I know that no chicks ended up alive that hatched under her. I will not let her hatch again.

On your situation you may never know. What you need to do is not give up first of all. You will have a sucessful hatch eventually. Try to lessen the chances of things going wrong.

Make sure no rats can get in. Maybe move them to a large dog crate. I try not to move mine and have also had one go off the nest after moving her, but that is the one Jersey Giant I mentioned above also. Sometimes you just have to move them. Try it at night right before they are due to hatch. Do you have a bator? If they go off the nest you can hatch them your self.

I would separate the broodies next time. There are times when 2 broodies hatch and raise their chicks just fine but there are other times it turns into a disaster. One of my co-broodies attacked the others baby and if I wouldnt of been there she would of killed it. That happened to me twice. I got lucky and just happened to be there both times. I guess because I was aware that it could happen. Now you are aware also.

I would just pick one of the broodys to give the egg to and separate her from all the other chickens. They can see one another but no touching. If she doesnt sit for you give it to the other one.

Please do not feel like it is your fault. It is not. These things just happen sometimes.
Let us know what happens ok?

Marie

 

[jools2014]

Thanks Marie. I was so looking forward to coming on here and posting pics of the new babies

I'm sorry you have had some bad hatches also

I won't be hatching any again-I don't wish to go the incubator route-seems even more likely to go wrong, and also too much work. So it'd mean buying another broody type which I don't really want to do. I'm just going to see what happens with this last egg and just let one broody hatch it out, watching it like a hawk. I'll have to buy a couple more for company also which kind of has defeated the object of hatching them out from my own hens!

No I don't have an incubator, I'd have to buy one. I know Sonya recommended a great one, but they're not cheap, so I didn't buy one this time, should have prepared for disaster though! I'll be watching very closely now, but with it happening overnight it would've been difficult, if I had known it was likely to happen anyway.

I'm determined to save this last egg! The broodies have been sitting for so long since they had the first hatch also that went wrong 2 and a half weeks in, it's a shame if it all comes to nothing. I definitely wouldn't let them sit any longer, or again this year since it's now going to be getting colder here, I don't want young chicks in the cold weather. Sighs, it just seems to not be in the cards for me. I'll let you know what happens Marie.