Help! Broody Hen!

[ChickenTenderz]

I plan to let mama hen and her chicks stay in the coop with our other girls unless I notice anyone being aggressive towards them. I have a large dog crate set up to move her & babies if necessary. I will also put a small waterer & feeder with chick feed in the coop since our coop is raised off the ground. Hopefully we don't have any problems with chicks getting back up the ramp.

 

[Mrs. K]

How many did you get? Is this not the most fun?

 

[ChickenTenderz]

How many did you get? Is this not the most fun?

I checked around 9:30 and one was completely out & still wet. One more was starting to work on a small hole in the shell. The other 2 weren't showing any signs of hatching.
It's so exciting! My husband thinks I'm nuts, running down to the coop to check on the babies.

 

[ChickenTenderz]

There were two empty shells this morning, and I could hear little chirps. The other two eggs aren't showing any signs of hatching yet. Today is day 20, is it normal for them to hatch on different days?

 

[aart]

There were two empty shells this morning, and I could hear little chirps. The other two eggs aren't showing any signs of hatching yet. Today is day 20, is it normal for them to hatch on different days?

Yes, normal.
You can remove the empty shells and give the others another day or two.

 

[Mrs. K]

This happened to me this year. The first one hatched and left the nest. She followed, leaving the unhatched. I thought they were duds and was going to toss them. When I heard a single peep. I was not sure which egg, so I put them by her and she tucked them and 4 hours later they both hatched.

Report back!

 

[ChickenTenderz]

This happened to me this year. The first one hatched and left the nest. She followed, leaving the unhatched. I thought they were duds and was going to toss them. When I heard a single peep. I was not sure which egg, so I put them by her and she tucked them and 4 hours later they both hatched.

Report back!

Today will be the longest day ever at work! I can't wait to get home and check on them again.

 

[ChickenTenderz]

Here are the 2 that hatched yesterday. The other 2 eggs aren't showing any signs yet but it is only day 20. The woman I got the eggs from said she has a RIR rooster, RIR hens & a leghorn hen so the chicks could either be RIR or Red Sexlinks...anybody have opinions on these two?

 

[Mrs. K]

Two is better than nothing! They are darling!

 

[Ridgerunner]

The woman I got the eggs from said she has a RIR rooster, RIR hens & a leghorn hen so the chicks could either be RIR or Red Sexlinks...anybody have opinions on these two?

The leghorn hen should lay white eggs while the RIR will lay brown. You can tell by the eggshell color who the mother is.

A RIR rooster over a white leghorn hen will not get a red sex link. The genetics are not correct. Any chicks, male or female, from that cross should be white.

Those two chicks are from the RIR hens. No idea as to sex.