Hatching with 2 broodies

[16 paws]

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.

From what I understand that is very much more rare than it is common. I would try to separate the other hens from the broodys for at least a day or two to let the littles get used to mamas instructions. I also had to separate my co-broodies after the chicks started hatching because one of the babies got pecked pretty bad in the head and almost didnt make it. I think they might start fighting over the chicks. I know that ItalyChickie had the same problem with her co-broodies at one time. Just try and watch things and see how it goes after that..
Marie

 

[Sonya9]

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:

So remind me what breeds the chicks are? You said half bantams before.

And yeah it is POURING rain all day so that is seriously hampering my chick stalking efforts.

I wasn't sure if little mr. assisted hatched survived, but this morning saw that he DID! It looks like I have 5 cockerels and 2 pullets (unless I am sexing them wrong, and I kind of hope I am, they say dark lines from the eye are pullets, and light/no lines are cockerels...two are VERY dark so definitely pullets, 2 have no lines so definitely boys, but some are in between).

Anyway, I took the divider out and since older broody does NOT want to leave the nest yet I added a handful of food to her nest box for the babies, I think they are getting hungry but are unsure about venturing out alone, they do like to eat though!

 

[Farmer Viola]

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.

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

I would guess that they hatched out normally and perished after hatch... sorry I can't be more helpful on that. I did separate my co-broodies for a time.. I used cat carriers for their nests, which is nice because you can move them around. each hen had a cat carrier nest, and then was placed inside her own dog kennel, and covered with a tarp. they could see each other through the bars but were completely separated. I had the cat carriers in the coop until day 19, then moved to the dog crate because it was getting close to hatch time. they hatched out their chicks individually, and then on day 1 or 2 after all the chicks were out, I opened them and the hens just went into the same nest together - they wanted to. they also shared chicks happily, no fighting.
co-broodies in the same nest might accidentally step on a chick or egg? definitely worth separating them imho.

It is ok to candle eggs on any day of incubation, the only time you need to be super careful about candling is if they are shipped eggs. homegrown eggs are quite sturdy. in an incubator, you start lockdown on day 19 and increase the humidity, so they say no opening (no candling) during that time or else you release the humidity. that is the only reason why. the humidity is actually important once there is an external pip, around ay 20-21; until then, open the incubator, candle away.

since they're under a broody, none of the humidity stuff applies. it's perfectly safe to candle. I would do it after dark if I were you! you are looking for a very dark solid black egg this far in the process. they usually internally pip around day 20! you can see the internal pip like a triangle shadow inside the egg. here is a picture to show what I mean:

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?!

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.



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:







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 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.

Yay Pallina! She looks so proud of herself interesting that you think the co-parenting gave her incentive to go un-broody... it is definitely possible. she has just seemed "less broody" (less clucky, fluffy, teaching) than the other 2 since day 1. she actually laid an egg today, so she's for sure definitely done. funnily enough, she laid it in the cat carrier where her chicks hatched, NOT a real nest box!

From what I understand that is very much more rare than it is common. I would try to separate the other hens from the broodys for at least a day or two to let the littles get used to mamas instructions. I also had to separate my co-broodies after the chicks started hatching because one of the babies got pecked pretty bad in the head and almost didnt make it. I think they might start fighting over the chicks. I know that ItalyChickie had the same problem with her co-broodies at one time. Just try and watch things and see how it goes after that..
Marie

x2 agree about the separation

So remind me what breeds the chicks are? You said half bantams before.

And yeah it is POURING rain all day so that is seriously hampering my chick stalking efforts.

I wasn't sure if little mr. assisted hatched survived, but this morning saw that he DID! It looks like I have 5 cockerels and 2 pullets (unless I am sexing them wrong, and I kind of hope I am, they say dark lines from the eye are pullets, and light/no lines are cockerels...two are VERY dark so definitely pullets, 2 have no lines so definitely boys, but some are in between).

Anyway, I took the divider out and since older broody does NOT want to leave the nest yet I added a handful of food to her nest box for the babies, I think they are getting hungry but are unsure about venturing out alone, they do like to eat though!

Cuties!

are those welsummers?

 

[HealthyMNmama]

Thanks for the advice on the co-broodys and dead chicks. I'll candle the remainder of eggs tonight and find out what we're dealing with. Here are the cute 3 that made it along with their mamas. I need to do something about the featherless wing-tips. I thought they were getting plucked because we had two roosters. We got rid of one and the problem isn't solved.

Here are the mamas in their nesting tote.



This was after 2 hatched and one died. Since then we've found 2 bad eggs and 3 more have died.



Chicks #1 and #2



Chicks #1 and #3 (about 30 hours apart in age)



Good morning!

 

[KendyF]

Thanks for the advice on the co-broodys and dead chicks. I'll candle the remainder of eggs tonight and find out what we're dealing with. Here are the cute 3 that made it along with their mamas. I need to do something about the featherless wing-tips. I thought they were getting plucked because we had two roosters. We got rid of one and the problem isn't solved.

Here are the mamas in their nesting tote.



This was after 2 hatched and one died. Since then we've found 2 bad eggs and 3 more have died.



Chicks #1 and #2



Chicks #1 and #3 (about 30 hours apart in age)



Good morning!

Awesome!!!

 

[ItalyChickie]

So remind me what breeds the chicks are? You said half bantams before.

And yeah it is POURING rain all day so that is seriously hampering my chick stalking efforts.

I wasn't sure if little mr. assisted hatched survived, but this morning saw that he DID! It looks like I have 5 cockerels and 2 pullets (unless I am sexing them wrong, and I kind of hope I am, they say dark lines from the eye are pullets, and light/no lines are cockerels...two are VERY dark so definitely pullets, 2 have no lines so definitely boys, but some are in between).

Anyway, I took the divider out and since older broody does NOT want to leave the nest yet I added a handful of food to her nest box for the babies, I think they are getting hungry but are unsure about venturing out alone, they do like to eat though!

Awww they are so sweet! There is just nothing that beats watching chicks with their mamas.

And yep, they definitely do like to eat, don't they? Sorry to hear it's raining, that definitely does make it harder to stalk them! The weather has been collaborating with me over here, sunny and hot, perfect for chick stalking.

Happy to hear the assisted chick survived!!! So lucky you were there and able to help!

Sorry, can't help on sexing by markings, zero experience on that one... Hopefully you do have some more girls with those in-betweens.

And yes, half the eggs were bantam, Pallina got those being a banty herself. They are Millefleur Booted bantams, I believe more common here in Europe than the US, they are quite similar to D'Uccles but without the beard. Here's a pic of one of the biological moms that the egg seller sent me:




Chiocciola has Araucana eggs, supposedly black and blue, but since there's a yellow chick with some darker spots, I'm assuming also splash or maybe another color mixed in. There were also two Ameraucana eggs that made it to day 18, but one of them pipped first and never zipped, and the other doesn't seem to be showing signs of life, so not holding out high hopes for those, seeing as all the others never even developed, that shipment had taken quite a bit of damage.

I saw two blue chicks there this morning. Will resume stalking in a bit, was just a quick peek as that area doesn't get much sunlight until mid-morning. In any case, those two should grow up to lay blue eggs (if female, obviously - fingers crossed!), and look like this:



Hopefully better pics of mamas and babies today... stay tuned!

Yay Pallina! She looks so proud of herself interesting that you think the co-parenting gave her incentive to go un-broody... it is definitely possible. she has just seemed "less broody" (less clucky, fluffy, teaching) than the other 2 since day 1. she actually laid an egg today, so she's for sure definitely done. funnily enough, she laid it in the cat carrier where her chicks hatched, NOT a real nest box!

She does look proud, doesn't she?

Hopefully they will venture out today (she tried a few times yesterday, but not all chicks followed right away so she went back on the nest... very protective mama!) and I'll be able to post better pics.

And yes, that sounds like a definite back to business, enough of chick raising scenario. I've had broodies start laying where the chicks were hatched too, maybe because they were used to the place, so it's probably not uncommon... I'm not an expert on this, obviously, only having experienced co-parenting once, but in my case it was also pretty obvious that Ombretta was the one more attentive to the chicks, and I'm thinking it's possible Cenere began to gradually feel she wasn't really needed and could go back to the carefree lifestyle.

She did last 4 weeks though (as opposed to almost 6 last year).

This was after 2 hatched and one died. Since then we've found 2 bad eggs and 3 more have died.

The babies are adorable, congratulations and hope there are plenty more!

I have to ask about the above picture - please don't take it the wrong way, just trying to help figure out potential harm to the chicks... did they both leave the nest with one chick and others zipping, or did you lift them off? I'm assuming the latter, never seen a broody get off the nest at that point (with hatched chick and others coming out), and especially if there are two, I'd think they'd take turns... Either way though, if what I am seeing is right and they are already zipping, not just pipped and resting, I think that getting exposed to the air at this point might weaken the chicks...

Again, no expert! I might be wrong, I do believe I read this somewhere, but wait for the others to chime in before you take my word for it. Just wanted to point it out as a potential hazard.

 

[ItalyChickie]

Aaaand they're out!

 

[KendyF]

Aaaand they're out!

How many did you end up with? What a batch of cuteness!

 

[ItalyChickie]

How many did you end up with? What a batch of cuteness!

Thank you!

These are 7 out of 8 eggs, and my other broody has 5 so far, also out of 8, but she is still sitting tight, so might be some hope for others (day 22 today...)

 

[Sonya9]

Aaaand they're out!

They are so cute and chubby! All look to be about the same size too which is nice.

How are the bantam chicks doing? Sorry if I missed it but have they even started to hatch yet?