Help! Hatch day going bad.

[MarkJr]

I will. I’ll post pics once it doesn’t look like a crime scene. This morning freaked me out. And I feel it was in part my own ignorance. I’d been watching momma carefully and she’d been doing a good job. I just didn’t realize she’d go into such a trance that she wouldn’t defend the nest. Now I know and I know to either move her to a kennel in the coop for hatching or to do a “lock down” by screening her nest off for hatch day. Thanks again to everyone for the help.

I don’t think your experience this morning is the normal. Next round you’ll be better prepared for your individual situation.

 

[gothicpicasso]

I don’t think your experience this morning is the normal. Next round you’ll be better prepared for your individual situation.

I hope not. It was bad. I’ll do it again, but I’m gonna do better.

 

[gothicpicasso]

Came to check on things. Momma has four chicks and two currently unhatched eggs. She had nine eggs and lost two chicks this morning. I’m not sure what happened to the ninth.

 

[gothicpicasso]

Any one have any idea how long I should leave the two unhatched eggs? What are the odds they will hatch?

 

[ackie]

Any one have any idea how long I should leave the two unhatched eggs? What are the odds they will hatch?

She'll sit on them overnight so I'd leave them at least til morning.

 

[gothicpicasso]

She'll sit on them overnight so I'd leave them at least til morning.

That was my thought.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

U can candle the unhatched eggs to see if the chicks inside are still alive. Its actually Better to do so at night, when your hen will be calmer. If u remove the eggs to candle, and if they are alive, be sure to put eggs back under mama hen in exact same position they were when u removed them. The reason u want to do this is because the chick will have already rotated into hatch position, & will use energy needed to hatch to instead rotate itself back into hatching position. U didnt "mess up" or do anything wrong in thinking the broody & chicks would be ok staying with the other hens. Hindsight is 2020. I agree with previous poster that blocking her off until she completes hatching process was the solution to the immediate problem. However, since the other hens have already killed her chicks, i would personally take no chances your broody can keep them safe. Years ago i had same bad experience u have had today. (Other hens killing the new chicks.) Now i ALWAYS move a broody to her own private area once she starts incubating her eggs. In this same private area she is able to raise her chicks after they hatch. I am sorry for your trauma. But at the very least u have a very proud mama hen and four cutiepie chicks.

 

[gothicpicasso]

U can candle the unhatched eggs to see if the chicks inside are still alive. Its actually Better to do so at night, when your hen will be calmer. If u remove the eggs to candle, and if they are alive, be sure to put eggs back under mama hen in exact same position they were when u removed them. The reason u want to do this is because the chick will have already rotated into hatch position, & will use energy needed to hatch to instead rotate itself back into hatching position. U didnt "mess up" or do anything wrong in thinking the broody & chicks would be ok staying with the other hens. Hindsight is 2020. I agree with previous poster that blocking her off until she completes hatching process was the solution to the immediate problem. However, since the other hens have already killed her chicks, i would personally take no chances your broody can keep them safe. Years ago i had same bad experience u have had today. (Other hens killing the new chicks.) Now i ALWAYS move a broody to her own private area once she starts incubating her eggs. In this same private area she is able to raise her chicks after they hatch. I am sorry for your trauma. But at the very least u have a very proud mama hen and four cutiepie chicks.

Thank you for your help. I can contain momma and the chicks. Either in a dog kennel or in an area I made in my nest boxes so I could screen young chickens off to let them get introduced. If possible I want them to stay with the flock, so that hopefully I will have to do minimal introductions. Any thoughts on how long separation should occur? Also I remembered that the other d’Uccle had been laying in the nest. She’d lay when momma would get up to do her dailies. So I wonder if part of her freaking out was needing to lay her egg and trying to clear the nest. I know for a fact that she has laid in other nests while momma has been broody, but when the opportunity was there she took the nest momma had made. Any way thanks again for the help.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

it is of course sometimes hard to know what is in a chickens mind, but my guess is your other d'uccle was freaking out not because she needed to lay an egg, but because she saw the nest being invaded by strange little mouse-like fuzzy creatures that needed to be removed. And how could she possibly know what they were, since she had never seen a tiny chick before?! And then the other hens saw the chick(s) as potentially tasty little morsels & began to play keep-away. Fyi my hens have hatched probably 3-4 HUNDRED clutches through the years by now, & the flock long ago learned that chicks are just miniature chickens. The flock members fully accept the chicks & treat them as just another chicken. Mama & her chicks can take dustbaths with the flock & wander around the yard without the others bothering them in any way. The main reason i still give every broody a private space to live and raise her chicks is because all the broody pens are wrapped in 1/2" hardware cloth, (same as the main runs & coops). I know a snake or rat cannot get to the chicks in the broody pens. That COULD happen in the main coop, since my chickens free-range dawn to dusk every day, meaning the door to coops and runs are wide open. Also, broody hens just seem more relaxed and content having their own private space. To answer your question "how long should separation occur?", i would treat your situation as if u had a pet dog that had just killed some chickens/chicks which it had never seen before. I.e. watch the other hen's behaviors VERY closely to observe their reactions towards the chicks. Are they still acting like the chicks are invaders in their space? A tasty morsel they need to get at? If/when the others begin to ignore the chicks, then u can allow the others to have access to mama & chicks, under your close supervision. Are the others still ignoring the chicks? Is mama hen quick to protect her chicks if the others so much as look her chick's way? A broody in full protective mode seems to suddenly grow 3-4 times her real size. She will fluff up every feather on her body starting with raised hackles, spread her wings wide and away from her body, lower her head to the ground, and be ready to charge and attack any perceived threat to her babies Having said all of the above, i understand YOU were very stressed out by the "murder scene", & that u dont want to risk losing more chicks. Based on what u described, plus my prior experiences, at this early stage i dont think u can possibly predict "how long separation should occur." At the least, allow the chicks to get strong and mobile enough to easily keep up with mama. Maybe in a week or so, after careful observation, u will decide the others likely wont hurt the chicks. At the worst, to be SURE the chicks arent harmed, they may need to stay separate from the others for several weeks. (Due to the typical docile nature of your breeds (d'uccles, silkies), i really dont think it will take nearly that long. My chick killers were isa browns, which are KNown to be intolerant to new chickens). So flock acceptance may take place quickly (within a week.) Whatever u decide, the main thing is to enjoy the experience. Watching a broody with her chicks is amazing. Just as nature intended!

 

[gothicpicasso]

Thanks again for the advice and for sharing your experiences. I do have four Barred Rocks in my flock. I think I’ll start by putting momma and her chicks in my triple nest box. I’ll cut screen to fit it this weekend and see how that goes for everyone. It should be enough space for all of them and some food, for a week or so. If things aren’t looking good I’ll move to the large dog kennel in the main coop space. Worst case I can move momma inside the house. Sadly I did candle, as best as I can with just my phone light, the eggs. The chicks looked to only be filling half the egg the rest was clear. I’m afraid they stopped developing. I’m gonna take them from momma later today.
Yesterday morning was very stressful. Part of it is I got hatching eggs because my five year old asked when we collected our first eggs why we didn’t let them hatch. I had to explain that we can’t keep roosters so none of our eggs will be able to hatch.She looked sad so I promised her that if a chicken ever acted like it wanted to hatch eggs I’d buy eggs it could hatch. So yeah my little girl had been waiting for hatch day and it wasn’t a magical experience. Still I’d be willing to do it again. I’d like to get some Barbu de Watermael hens and if I’m gonna take my chances with having to rehome roos I’d rather just hatch them. To ask another question you say you separate momma and eggs. Are they in the coop but confined or do they go to a private coop? I don’t see a way for me to set up a completely private coop, being truly a backyard flock I’ve used up the space I have with my current coop and attached run. And momma seemed to really enjoy her breaks from the nest to get a quick bath and grab some food. I’d hate to have her confined and completely unable to get a little fresh air. Of course this is just planing for the future.