Help! Immediate concern, egg hatching as I type.

[affacat]

Super quick - we had 3 broody hens each with eggs. 1 gave up we put her 12 or so eggs in an incubator not knowing how old any of them are (likely staggered)

Onw is hatching right now. Cheep cheep.

Do I give this egg to one of our broodies? Will this cause her to leave hee other eggs? Do I take the egg out of our nurture right 360 incubator?

Also do I do anything special for a newborn? Had chickens for many years but this is our first hatch

Help! Will be reloading page...

 

[affacat]

I took out the white thing that causes them to roll. wife said she heard that can hurt them.

This is one of 20 eggs in incubator.

Our two broodies each have 5 or so. (We weren't planning on a hatch just yet so didn't..
plan, totally winging it)

We already have batches of chicks being raised (2 weeks old meat hens and turkeys) and don't have a place for newborns yet since we thought we had another week or two

 

[affacat]

Sorry to reply bomb my own post...our main issue is not knowing how to deal with a potentially staggered selection of eggs. I know if we had a fixed set of eggs we would leave them in there to let them all hatch. But we have a potentially very staggered batch (plus the broodies have more)

Oh, the wonder and fear of a first hatch,lol. At least we've already raised a ton of chicks before

 

[Chookwagn]

You should be able to give chicks to the broodies for up to 3 days.
It's best to let the chicks dry off then slip them under the hens when it's going dark so she has all night to get used to them under her

 

[SummerTheAnimalGirl]

How exciting! Yep, I agree with Chookwagn. Don’t take the egg out of the incubator now. Let the chick dry off and then slip it under the broody. How is the hatching going? Are any other eggs pipped or zipping? What is the humidity at?

 

[JubileeFarmer]

When hatching eggs under a broody hen you want all of the eggs to hatch within about 48 hours of each other. When the first chicks to hatch need to eat and drink the hen will abandon any unhatched eggs to care for the chicks that she already has.

DO NOT put the egg under a broody hen unless you know that the other eggs she is sitting on are are also in the process of hatching. It is possible to give newly hatched chicks to a broody who is sitting on fake eggs, or has newly hatched chicks, but if she is sitting on developing eggs that are not ready to hatch she will abandon the eggs.

If the eggs under your broodies are not all at the same stage of development then when they start to hatch it is possible that you will need to rescue some unhatched eggs and place them in the incubator.

Your best option is to leave the egg in the incubator. Once it has hatched and is fluffed up you can quickly remove it to a brooder while you wait for the rest to hatch.

 

[affacat]

Ok. Still only one is hatching but the chick is a workhorse. I checked on my two broodies and didn't hear any cheaping.

I have gifted chicks successfully to a broody with fake eggs before with good results, except then a different time my wife had a horrific experience in which the hen killed the chick as she was putting it in the nestbox (it happened fast, multiple feathers pulled out and she died 24 hours later despite our best efforts). I will be sure to do it at night, I think the bad incident happened early evening.

Secondary question - our best boxes in the new coop are off the floor. I'm thinking i need to speed build a mini coop for the broody hens and baby chicks. Does this sound like a good idea or can the mammas manage chicks in a traditional coop/nestbox

 

[affacat]

How exciting! Yep, I agree with Chookwagn. Don’t take the egg out of the incubator now. Let the chick dry off and then slip it under the broody. How is the hatching going? Are any other eggs pipped or zipping? What is the humidity at?

We added some water, humidity at 65 right now. How often should I manally turn the other eggs now that we removed the roller?

 

[affacat]

Will baby chicks eat styrofoam? I am trying to figure out a super quick mini nest box and run for our two broodies. I have some feral cat beds - they are styrofoam boxes (insulated) inside a plastic box container with a hole cut in the side. I could throw two of those in a secure little run and put the two broody and their 5 eggs each in there, or just leave them be in their current nest box.... I'm just not sure chicks can get in/out of the nest box or coop on their own.

 

[JubileeFarmer]

Will baby chicks eat styrofoam? I am trying to figure out a super quick mini nest box and run for our two broodies. I have some feral cat beds - they are styrofoam boxes (insulated) inside a plastic box container with a hole cut in the side. I could throw two of those in a secure little run and put the two broody and their 5 eggs each in there, or just leave them be in their current nest box.... I'm just not sure chicks can get in/out of the nest box or coop on their own.

Baby chicks will eat anything they can get in their mouths until they figure out what is food and what isn't. I wouldn't risk exposing them to Styrofoam.

Before the eggs hatch a hen may be more attached to the location than the eggs. Moving a broody and eggs can cause some confusion for the hen and she may abandon the eggs and try to go back to the original nest. After they hatch she will be attached to the chicks and will be fine as long as she is with them. Once the chicks start to hatch you can move the hen, chicks, and unhatched eggs and she should stay with the chicks.

Another alternative is to wait until all eggs that are going to hatch have hatched and then provide them with an alternative nesting spot. The chicks should be able to get out of the nest safely even if it is several feet above the ground but they won't be able to get back in so they will need a new location at that point.

Whether they can get in/out of the coop depends on your setup. Can you post pics?