Hatching with broody hen, remove chick?

[ChristyBRogers]

Have a first time broody silkie sitting on clutch I left alone for first week+. Meaning I don’t know what day every egg is on. Many hens laid in her box. I’ve never had a roo before so this is our first hatch. Well one hatched yesterday. Today I went out to check on them in her separate pen. All the eggs were cold. She was out of the box. The chick was out. I think she was stressing out trying to get him back in the box for god knows how long. She’s back on the eggs now that I put the baby back in the nesting box. I wonder if I should take the chick inside so she can finish the other eggs if they are even alive now? The chick is very active. Exploring and eating already.

 

[sourland]

I'd either remove the chick or put the eggs in an incubator. Even if you remove the chick she may still break broodiness. Staggered hatches are generally a disaster.

 

[Sussex19]

Do you have an incubator and brooder?
I once ended up with a stagged hatch, and what I did was this.
Twice a day I would check the eggs, and candled them. As soon as I saw that one had internally piped I would take it and put it in my incubator in lockdown.
As they hatched I moved them to a brooder.
A few days later all the eggs had been moved to the incubator, and hatched, and gone in to the brooder, so I then took all the chicks and gave them back to Mrs. broody.
The chicks had slight age differences, but that didn't matter at all.
If you can, this is the best way of dealing with a stagged hatch in imo.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

If possible, I always try to have an extra broody on fake eggs when dealing with a staggered hatch. As soon as babies start hatching, I pulled the youngest group of eggs and move them to the extra broody to finish out. Just what I do since I almost always have a surplus of the angry pancakes

 

[Yardmom]

The chicks in the eggs might be ok. Once they are warmed all the way you could candle for signs of life. I've had more than one oops where hens were off the eggs for several hours, but the eggs hatched anyways. If you have an incubator, finishing the eggs for her would be a good idea. If not you can try to brood the chick to see if it keeps her on the nest.

 

[ChristyBRogers]

Ok I think it’s time to go buy an incubator. We actually lost the rooster (RIP), so I was avoiding that purchase since it’s a one time hatch. But sounds like this staggered hatch is going to be a mess! There are only 5 other eggs. I’ll candle them first. May need to post pics. The egg that hatched I had actually marked as a dud. Only left it because I moved her and wanted the nest to feel the same. So clearly I’m not the best judge of viability. First time!

I wonder if it’s worth a science experiment with some of the other eggs I know he likely fertilized that were washed and refrigerated to give to my mom. She doesn’t want to eat them now that knows some could be fertile.

 

[ChristyBRogers]

If possible, I always try to have an extra broody on fake eggs when dealing with a staggered hatch. As soon as babies start hatching, I pulled the youngest group of eggs and move them to the extra broody to finish out. Just what I do since I almost always have a surplus of the angry pancakes

Unfortunately or fortunately none of my other hens have been broody.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Unfortunately or fortunately none of my other hens have been broody.

Yeah, that seems to happen.

If it makes Mom feel better, they won't be any different than store eggs when she opens them (some people even hatch store egg

 

[ChristyBRogers]

Do you have an incubator and brooder?
I once ended up with a stagged hatch, and what I did was this.
Twice a day I would check the eggs, and candled them. As soon as I saw that one had internally piped I would take it and put it in my incubator in lockdown.
As they hatched I moved them to a brooder.
A few days later all the eggs had been moved to the incubator, and hatched, and gone in to the brooder, so I then took all the chicks and gave them back to Mrs. broody.
The chicks had slight age differences, but that didn't matter at all.
If you can, this is the best way of dealing with a stagged hatch in imo.

Thank you. This sounds like a very low stress route for my hen. Sadly all the other hens have taken to bullying her when she would emerge for food. I have her in my isolation pen currently with a nesting box.

 

[ChristyBRogers]

Yeah, that seems to happen.

If it makes Mom feel better, they won't be any different than store eggs when she opens them (some people even hatch store egg

She saw a YouTube video about hatching store eggs. I think she may be off eggs for life now lol