Help. Novice egg Hatcher!!

[MrsBaz]

Hi. So I’ve kept chickens for a short ish while. Last year we let our girls sit on an egg which we hoped would hatch but not 100% if it would. The girls are mixed breeds from very large to very small (inherited them from our dog walker who was allergic). Anyway long story short two large hens & one silkie all ‘helped’hatch the egg and squashed the chick. I was heartbroken.
So one large hen has been sitting on an egg for just over 2 weeks and I’m hoping to have success. However tonight I’ve checked and the same three are sitting squashed into the hen house (on the egg)- pic attached. I’ve been removing all other eggs each day.
What should I do? We have a large enclosure with a main hen house where the 9 sleep and sometimes lay and a double tier (large) rabbit hutch which they lay in too. They free range (in 1/2 acre) during the day usually.
Not sure what the breeds are. They’re all different.

Thanks in advance.

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

Separate the other hens, only leave the best.Welcome to byc!! Glad you could join the Flock! Let me know if you need anything!

 

[aart]

What should I do?

Give more than one egg to one of the broodies in the smaller coop.
Break the other broodies.

 

[aliciaFarmer]

I would separate the two who aren't broody or haven't been sitting on the egg, personally. I usually separate my Broody hens so they can brood in peace but had a surprise broody in the coop with everyone else recently (two other broodies already on eggs in the nursey). Three other girls kept trying to overtake her nest and ended up breaking the eggs of and killing two babies about a week from hatch. I ended up having to separate mama from the rest of the flock but then she wanted to go back to where she'd been sitting. The whole thing was a nightmare. I ended up building an enclosure around her original spot which was a huge pain and took a lot of creativity but it kept anyone else from getting up in her business/crushing eggs/etc. She ended up hatching all the rest of her eggs successfully. Once they were a 2 or 3 days old, I let everyone just commingle which ended up being fine. We don't keep aggressive hens or roosters and it wasn't a problem at all (papa rooster even participates in their outdoor adventures and finds them yummy greens).

I know a lot of people are against integrating babies so young but that's how it works in nature and I didn't have an extra spot with the other moms already hatching and thankfully it all turned out great. I just don't like other hens getting anywhere near a broody mama towards the end because it can be a fiasco. Good luck!!

 

[MrsBaz]

Separate the other hens, only leave the best.Welcome to byc!! Glad you could join the Flock! Let me know if you need anything!

Should I move the egg and hen ? The egg is in the night time area so if it hatches at night I’m in trouble as that’s where they all sleep :-/

 

[MrsBaz]

I would separate the two who aren't broody or haven't been sitting on the egg, personally. I usually separate my Broody hens so they can brood in peace but had a surprise broody in the coop with everyone else recently (two other broodies already on eggs in the nursey). Three other girls kept trying to overtake her nest and ended up breaking the eggs of and killing two babies about a week from hatch. I ended up having to separate mama from the rest of the flock but then she wanted to go back to where she'd been sitting. The whole thing was a nightmare. I ended up building an enclosure around her original spot which was a huge pain and took a lot of creativity but it kept anyone else from getting up in her business/crushing eggs/etc. She ended up hatching all the rest of her eggs successfully. Once they were a 2 or 3 days old, I let everyone just commingle which ended up being fine. We don't keep aggressive hens or roosters and it wasn't a problem at all (papa rooster even participates in their outdoor adventures and finds them yummy greens).

I know a lot of people are against integrating babies so young but that's how it works in nature and I didn't have an extra spot with the other moms already hatching and thankfully it all turned out great. I just don't like other hens getting anywhere near a broody mama towards the end because it can be a fiasco. Good luck!!

thanks. I’m scared they’ll crush the egg / chick. I’d also worried about when the chick itself hatches and how they’ll cope with it in the hen house. Aargggh!!

 

[Stacyoung13]

Do you have a dog kennel or something? You could set it up for her and the egg. Move them in at night. You can Even leave it in the coop. You may want to put hardware clothe around bottom to keep chick from escaping until you/mama decides to mingle. Good luck

 

[Stacyoung13]

Do you have a dog kennel or something? You could set it up for her and the egg. Move them in at night. You can Even leave it in the coop. You may want to put hardware clothe around bottom to keep chick from escaping until you/mama decides to mingle. Good luck

Forgot to mention that the cage/kennel should be big enough for nest, food, water, and to go poo

 

[aliciaFarmer]

thanks. I’m scared they’ll crush the egg / chick. I’d also worried about when the chick itself hatches and how they’ll cope with it in the hen house. Aargggh!!

Yeah, that's why I separate them until a couple of days after hatch. It was chaos with my last one with full flock access.