Hatching with 2 broodies

[16 paws]

We have 3 chicks so far! I'm concerned, though. Tell me if I should worry or not. (Total noobie to hatching.) 2 co-broody hens, 27 eggs to start (we had two Roos and 9 layers at the time.) 3 live chicks now (started on Tues) 2 bad eggs and 4 hatched, wet, dead chicks. Should I be concerned about the remaining eggs? I've never candled any of them; just trusted the mamas. Do I need to intervene? I do not have an incubator.

I wouldnt worry, just leave it to the broodys, they seem to know best. Unless you have one that cant make it out of the shell. Check with Sonya9, she just had to assist with a hatch and did a great job with it.
Good luck and I am sorry about the ones that didnt make it. Always a hard thing to go thru.

Forgot to ask what day are you on with the hatch and were all the eggs started at the same time?

 

[HealthyMNmama]

I wouldnt worry, just leave it to the broodys, they seem to know best. Unless you have one that cant make it out of the shell. Check with Sonya9, she just had to assist with a hatch and did a great job with it.
Good luck and I am sorry about the ones that didnt make it. Always a hard thing to go thru.

Forgot to ask what day are you on with the hatch and were all the eggs started at the same time?

Well, we're not sure what day we are on... The hens will randomly stay in a nesting box during the day so we didn't really notice at first. Also, the nesting box they chose was the most popular with all the hens. Yeah, I'm a bad chicken-mama. I'm mostly concerned that one of the hens has gone all homicidal or something since the last 3 chicks have been found dead (wet, no shell around, dead) and we've only had 3 live ones.

 

[Farmer Viola]

Well, we're not sure what day we are on... The hens will randomly stay in a nesting box during the day so we didn't really notice at first. Also, the nesting box they chose was the most popular with all the hens. Yeah, I'm a bad chicken-mama. I'm mostly concerned that one of the hens has gone all homicidal or something since the last 3 chicks have been found dead (wet, no shell around, dead) and we've only had 3 live ones.

I'm so sorry about your losses! I am new to broodies, just had 3 go broody nearly at once. one of my broody hens also had staggered eggs, and the first one to hatch out was found dead beneath her. it was also earlier than the full 21 days for the hen, the eggs were started in the incubator...

at first I thought that she crushed (it was sort of flattened on one side) and killed it.. but other experienced Broodzilla Keepers in this thread believed that the chick possibly died of other causes, or was too weak to live for some reason. and that it was flattened after death, not cause of death.. perhaps this could be the case with your chicks as well?

the shell to my chick was still fully in tact, it did hatch out itself, the shell was normal and pink inside, the chick's navel was formed, there was no unabsorbed yolk or anything. these would be the things I would look for as signs of a murderous hen - an undeveloped chick will be wet, still have yolk and veins outside of it's abdomen. is it possible a hen could have eaten the shell? have you ever had egg eaters in the flock? are there any wounds on the dead chicks?

 

[Farmer Viola]

Hello Team Broody

Yes, I have not dropped off the planet just been working way too hard and now I have 6 pages of posts to catch up on. By the time I finish, probably 2 more

I have so missed everyone and I am looking forward to catching up on all your news.

I have a Word document open and I am typing away as I read posts and then going back and editing, as required, so if I mess it up or miss anyone .. apologies.

FV Cilla starts jumping back on the roost at about three weeks and then, when the littlies cannot join her, she jumps back down and cuddles up to them. She has done this on both hatches and I believe she is just teaching them and waiting for the day they work it out.

Wow regarding your follow up post and the chicks sleeping alone at 2.5 weeks old, I would also be concerned about the chill factor.

How are they going now? (Sorry, if I missed an update)

Good to read that Wendy is accepting her new chicks.

I witnessed the roost, jump back down behavior at first.... but then, they started leaving the chicks alone. curiously, the chicks do not cry for their mothers at night? does this mean they're warm enough or just used to it by now?

they slept alone at night for 2 nights. I peeked on them and saw them, but they weren't crying, and they were in an insulated corner. my DH's advice was to trust the mama's and if they say it's time, maybe they have been too warm at night or something. so we left them, and then last night after posting here, I decided to make someone sleep on the chicks. I pulled Bertha off the roost and put her in the cat carrier with the chicks and faced it to the wall (I removed the door lol). they had been sleeping just in the sand floor of the coop next to the walls. I am going to go check on them tonight in around 30 minutes...

the reason I picked Bertha to sit on them is that Beetlejuice has been acting markedly less broody the past two days. initially she was the one to jump down off the roost to cover the chicks! she has been making regular chicken sounds, not the constant broody cluck. she still tolerates the chicks, but she doesn't feed them or call them anymore. they jump on her back and follow her, but she has mostly given them over to Bertha I think. I also saw one of my cockerels mate her today, first time ever, maybe he knows she wants to start laying eggs again soon? anyhow, I think BJ was not a very good mother when compared to the other two, and if she goes broody again I may decide not to let her.... 2.5 weeks would not be old enough to abandon chicks if Bertha weren't willing to take them. hoping that my mentors here in this thread have something to say about that would you trust her again?

glad to hear everyone is using their Ranchateau to keep warm Teila. I can't get over Cilla mothering Blodie til 5 months, that's some commitment. BJ could use a lesson from Cilla. I hope she continues to lay eggs for you, and that the others follow her example!

PS, I don't say it enough, but I have learned so much from all of you in this thread. thank you all for taking the time to teach, I really appreciate you all

 

[Teila]

I’m back, already!

16 paws, thank you for the welcome back.

Hi HMN

Sorry, I missed your post which was posted while I was working on my earlier novella

I am guilty of being a Broodzilla Keeper and FV is correct in that most of us here would be surprised to learn that one of your broodies killed her bubbies. Another hen, yes, but not mumma. There are lots of stories of losses, early hatches, cracked eggs etc and sadly this is one part of being a chicken-mumma. Your concern is a good indication that you are not a bad chicken-mumma and please do not beat yourself up about it.

FV I am not sure if the chicks have become used to sleeping alone or if they are just happy and warm. I will be interested to hear the update of how Bertha took to sleeping with them again.

With regards trusting BJ next time, I wonder if the confusion of multiple broodies was the reason she left them early? If it was me, I would certainly try again but try and ensure that she is a single broody next time.

I have missed you gals (and PM) also .. I would be lost without this thread! And, 16 paws is right that it bites the big one when work interferes with my chicken friends!

We have been having a wonderful day in the sun and I snapped a couple of pics of the girls enjoying the garden. Cilla is not in them because she is currently in the nest box .. she laid an egg yesterday so, technically, not due for another one today as she normally lays every second day but has been known to lay two in a row; so the next hour or so will reveal if she is in fact, laying, or having another attempt at being broody.

I have decided that if she is keen, I am going to play along

 

[Sonya9]

Well, we're not sure what day we are on... The hens will randomly stay in a nesting box during the day so we didn't really notice at first. Also, the nesting box they chose was the most popular with all the hens. Yeah, I'm a bad chicken-mama. I'm mostly concerned that one of the hens has gone all homicidal or something since the last 3 chicks have been found dead (wet, no shell around, dead) and we've only had 3 live ones.

Seems to me the biggest problem is the communal nest box and eggs of varying ages.

Can you move the broody to a separate nest with the eggs? Or two separate nests if you have two broody girls? I would try to candle the eggs at this point to figure out which ones are viable and if they are in various stages of development try to separate them into nests by stage.

 

[Sonya9]

And by the way, it is official, I am chick obsessed! I woke up 2 or 3 times last night and immediately thought about the chicks! At 3:30 I woke up again and realized the chicks were still sleeping so no point in getting up, then I thought about Italychick and since she is 6 hours ahead it is already morning there! I thought she is so lucky! It is already 9 in the morning there and I bet she is out with her chicks right now!

I did sneak in at 5 am to check on everyone though, all was quiet, chicks all sleeping under broodys.

 

[HealthyMNmama]

...the shell to my chick was still fully in tact, it did hatch out itself, the shell was normal and pink inside, the chick's navel was formed, there was no unabsorbed yolk or anything. these would be the things I would look for as signs of a murderous hen - an undeveloped chick will be wet, still have yolk and veins outside of it's abdomen. is it possible a hen could have eaten the shell? have you ever had egg eaters in the flock? are there any wounds on the dead chicks?

Thank you Farmer Viola! I did not know what I should be looking for. Of the four dead chicks I have not seen any yolk or veins outside of the abdomen. I do not always see egg shells, but when I do, they are dry and pink inside.

Seems to me the biggest problem is the communal nest box and eggs of varying ages.

Can you move the broody to a separate nest with the eggs? Or two separate nests if you have two broody girls? I would try to candle the eggs at this point to figure out which ones are viable and if they are in various stages of development try to separate them into nests by stage.

Once the first broody gained her co-mama, the others stopped trying to enter that nesting box. The second joined after about a week. I have heard you shouldn't candle the eggs beyond 18 days, so I wasn't sure if I could now. I don't think it would work to separate the two broody hens. They both seem to be mothering the 3 live chicks and setting well still on the eggs. We did build a small wall around the nesting box to keep the chicks contained and to keep the other chickens from eating the starter food. (The mamas are very protective of this area; no other chickens dare to come around anymore!)

I'll try to figure out how to post pictures and show you our cuties

 

[Sonya9]

I have heard you shouldn't candle the eggs beyond 18 days, so I wasn't sure if I could now.

The "no candling" thing basically means eggs should not be turned or jostled much in the last 3 days but the reality is that yes they sometimes do get moved a bit. Plus after the 18th day you aren't going to see much, just a solid black form, but if they are far less developed or if they died a while ago you probably would see that. To be safe if you candle place the egg in the same position that you found it (same side up, so the chick doesn't have to re-orient themselves to hatch).

If I could candle without upsetting the broodies too much I would do it. You want to remove dead eggs so they don't explode and create a bit germy sticky mess that contaminates the whole nest (especially if dead eggs could be sitting there for over 3 weeks). You also might want to identify eggs that are in much earlier stages of development as they will need more time.

Regardless things will work out especially since you have fenced off that little area.

 

[ItalyChickie]

Hello Team Broody

Yes, I have not dropped off the planet just been working way too hard and now I have 6 pages of posts to catch up on. By the time I finish, probably 2 more

IC you may be onto something with the trusting-Cochin-thing or, sorry, I forget, is Cenere the matriarch? It could be more of a matriarch thing in that they are top chicken and therefore, do not fear!

Love the family pics! x3 on that adorable fuzzy butt picture and yep, she sure does look like she is counting them!

That picture of your smiling puppy and the little chicks is so adorable.

Oh no! Your power outage could not have come at a worse time!

Wonderful to read that you have some surviving bubbies!

Congratulations!!

OMG! Those family roost pictures are beautiful!! That second one with the wing-spread is amazing!

Teila!!! I was beginning to get worried about you! Glad to hear it's just one of those weeks and that you haven't dropped off the face of this planet, or abandoned this thread. (Not sure which would be worse..)

No, Cenere is not the matriarch, she's actually right in the middle in the pecking order, so I'm guessing it's more about the breed and the chickenality. I had another one that was just as trusting, Lola, and she was a Silkie cross, and bottom of the pecking order. Pallina, a bantam Brahma, is in her own pecking order as previously mentioned (though others consider her at the bottom as well), but she is also very trusting with me and letting me pick up the chicks today.

Thank you for the compliments on my family pics! I think we all agree that Bonnie is in the running for mama of the year award with that roost wing spread, yes?

Oh, by the way, the pic with the smiling puppy? That orange chick is Bonnie as a baby! Wasn't she a cutie?!

We have been having a wonderful day in the sun and I snapped a couple of pics of the girls enjoying the garden. Cilla is not in them because she is currently in the nest box .. she laid an egg yesterday so, technically, not due for another one today as she normally lays every second day but has been known to lay two in a row; so the next hour or so will reveal if she is in fact, laying, or having another attempt at being broody.

I have decided that if she is keen, I am going to play along

Haha I knew it!!!! I totally knew you would cave in if she did go broody. Then again, I would too. Even though I'm currently saying this is the last hatch for the year so everyone is grown up by the time it gets cold...

Blondie is such a stunner!!! All of your girls are, of course, but I have a soft spot for Blondie.

And the garden is beautiful as ever.

And by the way, it is official, I am chick obsessed! I woke up 2 or 3 times last night and immediately thought about the chicks! At 3:30 I woke up again and realized the chicks were still sleeping so no point in getting up, then I thought about Italychick and since she is 6 hours ahead it is already morning there! I thought she is so lucky! It is already 9 in the morning there and I bet she is out with her chicks right now!

I did sneak in at 5 am to check on everyone though, all was quiet, chicks all sleeping under broodys.

Lol, you are 100% correct! I have been down there since around 6 am, or as soon as it was light enough to see (so maybe a few minutes earlier). Then again, I'll be thinking the same thing about you tonight since you'll still be with the chickies and mine will be sleeping.

Glad everyone is doing well! I'd love some updated pics of your new arrivals.

I'm also obsessed and am constantly switching between the two, since there is still hatching going on under Chiocciola.

So, the update: the 7th egg hatched some time last night, so Pallina has 7 healthy beautiful babies. The 8th one seems to be a quitter, no pipping or peeping... I'll let Pallina decide when to abandon it, but it looks like it will be soon, as she is beginning to get restless and getting up and calling the babies. I'll get a group shot soon enough, I think, but in the meantime, a couple of pics of whoever was out from under her:






Chiocciola has 3 chicks so far, one hatched yesterday, one this morning, and one just a little while ago... All from Araucana eggs, but if I saw right, the last one that just hatched might be an unintended cross... it didn't seem to have fluff on its neck!!!

Kinda hoping I saw it wrong, as I'm not a fan...
Anyway, I did get a good view of the other two, and a couple of pics. The yellow chick looks like a splash coloring to me, though it was supposed to be blue... I have no idea if it works the same with Araucanas as Cochins (the blue-black-splash combo), but will be super happy if it is indeed a splash!

There is zipping happening right now, so I didn't disturb them too much, but here are a couple of blurry dark pics:

Well, we're not sure what day we are on... The hens will randomly stay in a nesting box during the day so we didn't really notice at first. Also, the nesting box they chose was the most popular with all the hens. Yeah, I'm a bad chicken-mama. I'm mostly concerned that one of the hens has gone all homicidal or something since the last 3 chicks have been found dead (wet, no shell around, dead) and we've only had 3 live ones.

I had a very similar experience with my co-broodies... This was April 13th hatch, so if you go back far enough on the thread, you can read more details about it - but basically, my non-expert opinion was that they were stealing the eggs from one another too much (witnessed this even in the last few days) which couldn't be good for chicks getting ready to come out. And also, chicks may have been confused by which one is the mom and trying to go to whichever one called instead of staying put and drying off... at least in my case, I actually found them rather far from the hens, as if they got lost in the dark.

I had other broodies (separately) at the same time, and ended up giving them the hatched chicks because I was so worried.

However, these same two went broody again - separately - and things went smoothly this time. One now has 6 healthy 2 week olds (6/6 hatch, no accidents, nothing strange), and the other is currently hatching, 3 so far, I talked about her above. So in my case, the problem was the nest and egg sharing, not the hens, who are both great moms - just not too great at the whole collaboration thing. I don't know if it's the same for you, just wanted to share my experience in case it's helpful.

Best of luck with the surviving babies, would love to meet them!

I witnessed the roost, jump back down behavior at first.... but then, they started leaving the chicks alone. curiously, the chicks do not cry for their mothers at night? does this mean they're warm enough or just used to it by now?

they slept alone at night for 2 nights. I peeked on them and saw them, but they weren't crying, and they were in an insulated corner. my DH's advice was to trust the mama's and if they say it's time, maybe they have been too warm at night or something. so we left them, and then last night after posting here, I decided to make someone sleep on the chicks. I pulled Bertha off the roost and put her in the cat carrier with the chicks and faced it to the wall (I removed the door lol). they had been sleeping just in the sand floor of the coop next to the walls. I am going to go check on them tonight in around 30 minutes...

the reason I picked Bertha to sit on them is that Beetlejuice has been acting markedly less broody the past two days. initially she was the one to jump down off the roost to cover the chicks! she has been making regular chicken sounds, not the constant broody cluck. she still tolerates the chicks, but she doesn't feed them or call them anymore. they jump on her back and follow her, but she has mostly given them over to Bertha I think. I also saw one of my cockerels mate her today, first time ever, maybe he knows she wants to start laying eggs again soon? anyhow, I think BJ was not a very good mother when compared to the other two, and if she goes broody again I may decide not to let her.... 2.5 weeks would not be old enough to abandon chicks if Bertha weren't willing to take them. hoping that my mentors here in this thread have something to say about that would you trust her again?

glad to hear everyone is using their Ranchateau to keep warm Teila. I can't get over Cilla mothering Blodie til 5 months, that's some commitment. BJ could use a lesson from Cilla. I hope she continues to lay eggs for you, and that the others follow her example!

PS, I don't say it enough, but I have learned so much from all of you in this thread. thank you all for taking the time to teach, I really appreciate you all

I also think that if the babies aren't crying, they are probably fine. It could be they feathered out faster than normal? Temps are just a general guideline, but some feather out faster and it seems that they can keep each other warm. Yes, it is unusually early, but if everyone seems happy and healthy, I wouldn't worry too much - just my two cents.

As far as abandoning them completely, yes, 2.5 weeks is far too early - but it also might be because of co-parenting... Cenere went back to egg laying and the usual business earlier this time around, probably because Ombretta was there to take over.