GatorChicks
Hatching
- Sep 14, 2019
- 2
- 3
- 8
Hey everyone, looking for some guidance and feedback here. We have 13 chickens and two of our hens went broody about 3 weeks ago. They began sharing the "best" nesting box and were doing just fine as gal pals sitting on their eggs and taking care of things. The other hens would come in and lay their eggs in there and so at night we would go in and collect the eggs that were new so in total we were planning on hatching about 10 eggs.
Well, the first three hatched and I came home to find 2 killed and one on the floor of the coop crying out with our seabright mama frantic. I put the surviving chick back in the nesting box and watched as the chick tried to crawl under my second mama (a black copper cochin). My Seabright went nuts. After picking up my cochin, we found the third chick dead with some pecking to their side. The cochin and seabright started fighting in the coop so I took the surviving baby (now named Latrell) and my seabright and separated them for the night. I realize now we should have separated them way earlier instead of letting them share 10 eggs.
Fast forward to yesterday. We cleared out the duck coop (which the ducks never used anyway) and turned it into a broody coop. We got the seabright and her chick settled with three eggs but when we tried to put the cochin and her eggs in there, she wouldn't stay and kept running back to the empty nesting box. This morning the seabright hatched 2 eggs and when we peeked in, she was pecking at the newborn's HARD. The chicks were screaming and the seabright seemed more intent on watching over her first chick (Latrell) than wanting anything to do with the new 2 babies. Did we not give our Seabright enough of a chance with the 2 newborns?
Our cochin is still in her original nesting box waiting for her eggs to hatch which given dynamics we will need to make arrangements for her and her babies when they hatch in the next few days.
Given that we already lost two babies this week, we picked up the newborn chicks and put them in a brooding box with food and water under a heatlamp so they didnt get pecked to death. They aren't anywhere near the mamas.
I am at a loss. I want these chicks to be raised by the mamas but I am fearful we will loose more babies if we leave them with these mamas. I dont know who killed the original 2 chicks but it's clear these two mamas cant be together. Help!!!
Well, the first three hatched and I came home to find 2 killed and one on the floor of the coop crying out with our seabright mama frantic. I put the surviving chick back in the nesting box and watched as the chick tried to crawl under my second mama (a black copper cochin). My Seabright went nuts. After picking up my cochin, we found the third chick dead with some pecking to their side. The cochin and seabright started fighting in the coop so I took the surviving baby (now named Latrell) and my seabright and separated them for the night. I realize now we should have separated them way earlier instead of letting them share 10 eggs.
Fast forward to yesterday. We cleared out the duck coop (which the ducks never used anyway) and turned it into a broody coop. We got the seabright and her chick settled with three eggs but when we tried to put the cochin and her eggs in there, she wouldn't stay and kept running back to the empty nesting box. This morning the seabright hatched 2 eggs and when we peeked in, she was pecking at the newborn's HARD. The chicks were screaming and the seabright seemed more intent on watching over her first chick (Latrell) than wanting anything to do with the new 2 babies. Did we not give our Seabright enough of a chance with the 2 newborns?
Our cochin is still in her original nesting box waiting for her eggs to hatch which given dynamics we will need to make arrangements for her and her babies when they hatch in the next few days.
Given that we already lost two babies this week, we picked up the newborn chicks and put them in a brooding box with food and water under a heatlamp so they didnt get pecked to death. They aren't anywhere near the mamas.
I am at a loss. I want these chicks to be raised by the mamas but I am fearful we will loose more babies if we leave them with these mamas. I dont know who killed the original 2 chicks but it's clear these two mamas cant be together. Help!!!
