Help, Should I remove day old chick from mother

[Robyn67]

In short, 2 brooding chickens (Olivia and Victoria) due 2 weeks apart. Olivia's eggs began hatching today and 1 baby born. Then Olivia abandoned nest and baby, stole Victoria's eggs and began sitting on them.

We gave Olivia's eggs to Victoria, but she kept pecking at baby, so we gave baby back to Olivia, who seemed fine with that, but basically baby is just sitting under mum.

Olivia decided she wanted her own eggs back and abandoned hatching eggs, and sat in box with Victoria, but couldn't get the eggs back, so just sat there. So we moved the hatching eggs again and they are now under Olivia (even though they are Victoria's).

What do we do with the poor little baby only a day old and it hasn't eaten or drunk anything yet. Should we remove it completely and put it in a brooder by itself. Should we leave it with Victoria its mum. Should we wait to see if any of the other eggs should hatch and then put all the babies together.

 

[canalcolt]

I have never hatched chicks from eggs but would love to in the future! I would bring in the chick and put her under a heat lamp. If the chick is lethargic, I have heard people give the chick sugared water to help start it. Hopefully someone with experience will reply soon.

 

[featheredplanets]

I would keep mum and baby together, as it’s day old, it’ll be fine at the moment for eating and drinking. It’s mum is still sitting because there’s eggs, I had to keep removing my eggs if my broody found any as they distracted her from her chicks. You should set Olivia with the hatching eggs and her chick away from the other hen with her eggs. Maybe you could set up a partition in the coop?

 

[Robyn67]

Thanks. I've ended up swapping the eggs, so that they are back under their own mums (sort of, quite hard to tell in the dark). One egg is pipping and I can hear it squeaking too, so hopefully 2 babies soon. In the morning if mum is not mothering too well I'll take the babies off her and raise in a brooder.

 

[Robyn67]

will test out a partition in the morning, sounds like a fantastic idea (its a very dark night here tonight, otherwise I would attempt it now)

 

[rebrascora]

A broody hen will not leave the nest until all her eggs are hatched or she is satisfied that no more are going to hatch or she must abandon them to look after the chicks that have hatched. The chicks can survive 3 days without food and water because they live off the egg yolk that they absorbed. As long as the chick is being kept warm under the broody then everything is as it should be for now, so please don't take the chick(s) off her. Can you put a dish of chick crumb and another
of water (with marbles in it) near the broody so that she can feed the chick if necessary without leaving the eggs. This is not necessary but might make you feel better. Make sure the chick can climb back into the nest from where you put the food and water.... make a little ramp for it if necessary and check it is able to use it.

Are the broodies in the same nest box? That is not an ideal situation and lends itself to nest swapping and confusion and sometimes even aggression towards the other hens chicks, so definitely put a partition between them if at all possible.

Any viable eggs under Olivia that have not hatched after 72 hrs from the first chick hatching can be put under Victoria to finish off and then graft any chicks that hatch from them back onto Olivia (grafting should be done after dark so that the chick settles under her and she can't see it), so she ends up with all the chicks from her eggs and then leave Victoria to continue to hatch her own eggs, which I believe you said were set a week later. Unless you didn't set all the eggs under Olivia on the same day, they should all hatch within 48hrs of each other though and there should be none to transfer to Victoria's nest.

Wishing you luck with your hatch. Please don't be tempted to take the chicks off her unless there really is something amiss (check here on BYC with someone experienced if you are concerned before you take action) Broody hens know far more about hatching and raising chicks than we do and it is a wonderful sight to see them teaching their chicks all the things they need to know. It is sad and cruel in my opinion to take her babies from her if she has done nothing wrong and it seems to me that your coop situation with two broodies in a small enclosure is what is currently causing confusion for them. Broodies bond with their chicks in th final few days of incubation when the chicks and hen start communicating, so that they already recognise each other by the time the chick hatches. The broody will grieve if you take her chicks and eggs from her.
At the moment, apart from the confusion over nests and a little pecking of a new chick which is quite normal for a new broody, she has done nothing wrong. Please leave her to do her job and hatch more chicks. The newly hatched baby does not need sugar water. I have had many broody hens hatch chicks and never had to give any sugar water. As long as she is keeping the chick warm whilst th other eggs hatch, she is doing well.

Best wishes

Barbara

 

[azygous]

@rebrascora has covered it all very thoroughly. We often screw things up by not trusting our broody hens. They are well programmed to know what to do by hormones that have been fine tuned over thousands of years.

Even if no more eggs hatch and you find you have but a single chick, taking it away from a broody is the absolute worst thing to do. A single chick raised alone in a brooder by you will be overwhelmed by loneliness, and by the time you decide to integrate it with the flock, it won't have a clue how to fit in. A broody teaches them all these things. The chicks that ended up being single hatches in my flock and raised by a broody are my most self confident chickens.

As for deciding what to do about eggs that haven't hatched by the hatch date, simply removing them and discarding them will cause the broody to turn her attentions to the live chicks under her.

Did you mark the eggs each broody is sitting on? With them due to hatch two weeks apart, you may have chicks hatching under one while her original eggs have two weeks left to incubate. You will know the early chicks belong to the first broody and should be put under her. Any unhatched eggs by her hatch date should then be transferred to the second broody to finish incubating. Broodies have no idea whose eggs are whose until the chicks are close to hatching and they hear them peeping.