Hatching with 2 broodies

[ItalyChickie]

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?

Thank you, I can't get enough of them!

And sorry if I confused you - those outside, in the pics above, are the bantams. The mama, Pallina, is also a bantam, so it's hard to tell by comparison, they're all mini chickens.

All eggs started at the same time, bantams hatched on day 20, those are the 7/8 eggs. The other broody has the standards (Araucana eggs) - they are still inside, but beginning to get restless. There are 5 of them, and I doubt others will hatch, as we're on day 22.

I hope that made sense!

 

[Sonya9]

Thank you, I can't get enough of them!

And sorry if I confused you - those outside, in the pics above, are the bantams. The mama, Pallina, is also a bantam, so it's hard to tell by comparison, they're all mini chickens.

All eggs started at the same time, bantams hatched on day 20, those are the 7/8 eggs. The other broody has the standards (Araucana eggs) - they are still inside, but beginning to get restless. There are 5 of them, and I doubt others will hatch, as we're on day 22.

Ahhhh...that explains why Pallina is so beautiful. Bantams are all about beauty!


So last night I decided to scramble up some egg since it seemed Zilla (formerly know as "older broody") wasn't leaving her nest box to eat even though all eggs had hatched out. Course that meant the babies weren't leaving the box either.

Some finely chopped scrambled egg mixed with ground flock feed changed all of that in heartbeat! Zilla started scarfing down food and getting the chicks to do the same (that poor girl probably hadn't eaten in 3 days). Young broody (her name was always Bella) did the same, though her two chicks are more adventurous and were already eating the dried food.

Decided to do the same this morning, both little families got another dish of egg/chicken feed. I also realized I was not paying as much attention to other three hens and decided they needed a treat too, they got two large bowls of the same mixture with a bunch of yogurt thrown in.

Everyone ate very well and are now sleeping it off.

 

[HealthyMNmama]

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.

They have both gotten off the eggs together several times now. It used to be they would take turns, but in the last several days they've left the nest together. Do you think the moms have given up on the rest? Do you think they'll hatch after this? (I have never hatched an egg before, with or without a hen, I'll take all the advice you have; don't worry about insulting me!) I tried to candle some of the eggs last night. I did 4. Two were completely dark and two were about a third dark. I'm assuming the brighter ones are bad eggs and I should get rid of them? Mamas were getting irritated with me and I'm so new to this hatching thing, I quit candeling at that point.

 

[Rhandi74]

They have both gotten off the eggs together several times now. It used to be they would take turns, but in the last several days they've left the nest together. Do you think the moms have given up on the rest? Do you think they'll hatch after this? (I have never hatched an egg before, with or without a hen, I'll take all the advice you have; don't worry about insulting me!) I tried to candle some of the eggs last night. I did 4. Two were completely dark and two were about a third dark. I'm assuming the brighter ones are bad eggs and I should get rid of them? Mamas were getting irritated with me and I'm so new to this hatching thing, I quit candeling at that point.

My broody hen had a late hatcher and it had pipped and was peeping all day. She kept getting up and I was so stressed but also wanted her to get up since it had been 3 days since she had moved. I did not think there was anyway her chick would hatch. She went back to her nest that evening and sat all night and in the morning she had a new chick.

Here is the late hatcher, Sunshine.

Here she is with all her chicks

I hope this encourages you that there is still hope because I was very discouraged for no reason.

 

[Sonya9]

They have both gotten off the eggs together several times now. It used to be they would take turns, but in the last several days they've left the nest together. Do you think the moms have given up on the rest? Do you think they'll hatch after this? (I have never hatched an egg before, with or without a hen, I'll take all the advice you have; don't worry about insulting me!) I tried to candle some of the eggs last night. I did 4. Two were completely dark and two were about a third dark. I'm assuming the brighter ones are bad eggs and I should get rid of them? Mamas were getting irritated with me and I'm so new to this hatching thing, I quit candeling at that point.

Sorry if you said this already and I missed it but what breeds are these two broody hens?

If you have free ranging hens and one goes off to hatch a clutch of chicks that is one thing, but with hens sharing nest boxes that is another thing entirely. Most folks plan ahead of time when they have a broody hen and want her to hatch out chicks, at that point they keep collecting eggs at least twice a day and save the ones they want to hatch out. Then they put those eggs (marked) under the broody and start counting the days, or they buy hatching eggs (mark them) and set them under the broody (unless the hen is totally isolated then marking may not be necessary).

Regardless we try to have them all started at the same time so they will all hatch at relatively same time. That works out far better for the hens too, when their babies hatch out it will be within a day or two and they won't be conflicted regarding raising babies and carrying for eggs that are way off schedule.

Generally speaking we know what we are trying to hatch and what the actual hatch day is expected to be. Also it is very stressful for a hen to be sitting on eggs, a good broody will only get off the nest once or maybe twice a day, they also eat very little during that time. I ordered hatching eggs after my girls had been broody for 2 weeks and felt a bit bad as they would be sitting for about 5 weeks before babies arrived. That is hard on a devoted hen.

 

[ItalyChickie]

Ahhhh...that explains why Pallina is so beautiful. Bantams are all about beauty!


So last night I decided to scramble up some egg since it seemed Zilla (formerly know as "older broody") wasn't leaving her nest box to eat even though all eggs had hatched out. Course that meant the babies weren't leaving the box either.

Some finely chopped scrambled egg mixed with ground flock feed changed all of that in heartbeat! Zilla started scarfing down food and getting the chicks to do the same (that poor girl probably hadn't eaten in 3 days). Young broody (her name was always Bella) did the same, though her two chicks are more adventurous and were already eating the dried food.

Decided to do the same this morning, both little families got another dish of egg/chicken feed. I also realized I was not paying as much attention to other three hens and decided they needed a treat too, they got two large bowls of the same mixture with a bunch of yogurt thrown in.

Everyone ate very well and are now sleeping it off.

Awww the cuteness!!! They always manage to get in the food, don't they?

I'll be making them some scrambled eggs later as well, though they have been eating their feed since they were hatched, pretty much - but how can I resist spoiling them?

My non-bantam broody, Chiocciola, has decided she has waited long enough and is outside as well, with the 5 that hatched - 4 Araucanas, and one obviously unintended cross of Araucana with a naked neck roo... a bit disappointed about that, since I never liked the look of those, but not much I can do about it now, I'm sure the seller had no idea either, those roos can be sneaky.

I candled the remaining three eggs, didn't see movement in any, but they are all pretty dark. One smells bad though, so tossing that one, and put the remaining two in the bator, just in case the power outage the other day delayed them. Not holding out much hope, obviously, but it's worth a try.

A couple of blurry pics of the Auracana chicks (plus the cross, lower right corner) with Chiocciola:

They have both gotten off the eggs together several times now. It used to be they would take turns, but in the last several days they've left the nest together. Do you think the moms have given up on the rest? Do you think they'll hatch after this? (I have never hatched an egg before, with or without a hen, I'll take all the advice you have; don't worry about insulting me!) I tried to candle some of the eggs last night. I did 4. Two were completely dark and two were about a third dark. I'm assuming the brighter ones are bad eggs and I should get rid of them? Mamas were getting irritated with me and I'm so new to this hatching thing, I quit candeling at that point.

I just don't want to come off as a know-it-all, since I am really fairly new to this (one year or so), but will be more than happy to share what I learned from experience and reading the forums.

So, question - do the hens cluck to the chicks to get them to follow when they leave the nest? Because if they do, that's a pretty good sign that they have indeed given up on the remaining eggs and just want to take care of these ones, since the babies need not just to eat and drink, but also learn to scratch, find bugs, and a whole bunch of other super important lessons.

It does depend on the hen(s) - some will stay quite a long time, even a week or longer waiting for all eggs to hatch (provided they do have access to food and water in the nest). Others will get up after about a day to take care of the chicks. Mine have all been in the latter category, most are up just a few hours after the babies dry off - but most of the eggs usually hatch in the 24-hour time frame for me, as I do separate broodies or mark the eggs if they aren't separated right away, to ensure they're all at the same stage of development, as Sonya explained above.

I have read up on late hatches, eggs cooling off, etc. quite a bit lately because of a power outage on day 19 with my eggs that were in the incubator, and it seems that for a lot of people the eggs still do hatch, even if they have cooled down (i.e., a hen wasn't covering them for a while in your case). However, they do need the constant heat to get to that hatching stage, and if your hens are now leaving them more and more, it doesn't sound like they are getting it.... but I'm not sure how long they're getting up for?

Also, again, this is just my experience, but generally the hens will not budge once the chicks start hatching and when they are zipping (as in your picture); not until they're ready to take the babies out. So the fact that they are off the nest with eggs in the process of hatching is what makes me think they might be ready for the teaching part of the broody role, more than anything else. Again, I could be wrong and would love for others to chime in on this.

Don't know how helpful this is, but it's all I can come up with at the moment without further details. I do hope that they were simply taking a break and that other babies can still hatch for you!

Edited to add: forgot to mention the candling, but yes, transparent would mean nothing is going on, or very early stages of development. If they're close to being born, you should see mostly a dark mass, with about 1/3 of the egg being the air cell. There are some great candling pics on this thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...g-candling-pics-progression-though-incubation

 

[Sonya9]

My non-bantam broody, Chiocciola, has decided she has waited long enough and is outside as well, with the 5 that hatched - 4 Araucanas, and one obviously unintended cross of Araucana with a naked neck roo... a bit disappointed about that, since I never liked the look of those, but not much I can do about it now, I'm sure the seller had no idea either, those roos can be sneaky.

I candled the remaining three eggs, didn't see movement in any, but they are all pretty dark. One smells bad though, so tossing that one, and put the remaining two in the bator, just in case the power outage the other day delayed them. Not holding out much hope, obviously, but it's worth a try.

A couple of blurry pics of the Auracana chicks (plus the cross, lower right corner) with Chiocciola:

Wow...that chick DOES have a naked neck!

Well that little chick could have the best most adorable personality of the bunch! Or be the best layer. If it is a little roo it better have a darn good personality.

 

[ItalyChickie]

Wow...that chick DOES have a naked neck!

Well that little chick could have the best most adorable personality of the bunch! Or be the best layer. If it is a little roo it better have a darn good personality.

Lol, exactly what I was thinking! Would much rather prefer the first option - a great layer of blue or green eggs!

 

[chickencrazy999]

Aaaand they're out!

Oh how cute what breed of chicks are they

 

[16 paws]

HealthyMNmama
I agree with ItalyChickie, I believe the mama would normally be sitting tight on the eggs to hatch them out. My broodies did not get up while eggs were hatching at all.
Now I also know with chickens anything is possible.So dont lose hope for the rest. I think I remember you saying you did not have a bator. If they are not sitting on the eggs at all I would look up how to make a quick bator in your bathroom using moisture and a heating pad. That is all I can think of right now.
Keep us posted on the progress.

Marie