HELP! Hen won't get off her chick :-(

[charliebee]

Hi there,
My Pekin Bantam 'Shirley' went seriously broody a while back. I tried really hard to break her broodiness but couldn't so bought her some eggs to sit on. To cut a long story short we only ended up with one egg which successfully hatched yesterday afternoon. The chick looks good and well but I'm not convinced Shirley knows what to do, she seems to be sitting tight on the chick and not showing it food and water! That's been 24 hours now. Should I intervene or will it still happen? Thanks, C

 

[Eckielady]

Chicks can go a couple of days without food and water since they've just soaked up the yolk.

 

[azygous]

If the broody is still sitting on unhatched eggs, she won't be inclined to get off the nest for her chick. You might clean out the nest. However, chicks have very little to no appetite for the first couple days after hatching. There's no big rush to get the chick to eating since they may still be absorbing the yolk sack.