Hen won't give up...Chick needs out?!?

[Chicken D's mom]

My Japanese Bantam hatched another hen's egg yesterday morning. It's day 22 and her own 9 eggs have yet to hatch. She has not moved from her nest for at least 36-48 hours. I can tell because the fresh bedding around her nesting box is undisturbed and so is her feed dish.

I'm beginning to think her own eggs were not fertilized.

She looks kinda bad this morning. Two of her eggs have rolled out from underneath her and she just left them there, where as yesterday she kept busy tucking them back under her. I gave her some water and she drank, but I am concerned for the chick. How long do I let her stay on those eggs if it's past the hatch date. Will she give up on her own and start taking care of the chick?

How long can the chick stay under her without food and water? Yesterday, the chick kept peeping and poking its head out from under her, but I haven't seen much movement from the chick at all

Please help!

I am soooo impatient....Someone tell me to chill...it will be okay! (I feel like a nervous grandma)!

 

[lauralou]

If you suspect that the eggs under the hen are not fertile, have you candled them? I've had hens take a couple of days to finish a hatch. That's not unusual. But I normally see that some of the eggs have pipped, zipped, etc. It's usually obvious to me that the hatch is in progress. Obvious because I gently lift the front of the hen and peek under. Some hens might not allow this, but all of mine are used to my meddling.

I do sometimes bring food and water to the nest and allow the momma to eat and drink, and she will show the early hatchers how to eat and drink as well. Or I show them how myself by tapping my finger on the edge of the feeder and dipping their beaks in the waterer. But theoretically, the chicks should be fine for a couple of days without any intervention on my part.

The eggs that rolled out and she just left them out, were they cold to the touch? If so, you might take them from the nest and candle them. If they are clear, meaning that a flashlight shines straight through them in a darkened room, then they never developed at all, probably because they were infertile.

Where are you located? Is it very cold there? Because that might change the advice that I would give you. I'm used to hatching in reasonably warm weather, and I don't want to advise you to do something that is wrong for your situation.

 

[Chicken D's mom]

I haven't candled them because Suzie has abandoned two clutches of eggs previous to this one for various reasons, and I didn't want to disturb this clutch out of fear she would abandon this one as well.

She is pretty tolerant of my intervention, bugging her etc, but won't let me touch her.
She tucked the two eggs back under her shortly after she drank and now she seems more lively. The color is brighter in her comb.

The chick poked it's head out from under momma a little while ago.

Yes, it is cold here, but we have her whole nesting box inside of a brooder box in the house. So she's at room temp.
It was blizzarding yesterday when the hatch began and a flock of sparrows or whatever invaded the chicken coop!! So we were able to move the whole nesting box without disturbing Suzie.

I suppose I'll just give her more time....Maybe by the end of today.
I'll deal with the sparrows in the meantime!

 

[lauralou]

Yes, if she doesn't like to be touched, then don't touch her. Just give her more time. Once the chick starts to get active for the day, maybe offer food and water and see if Suzie will teach it to eat and drink. Then you won't have to be worried about it at all.

There are sometimes eggs left over after I feel that a hatch is complete. I'm always a little iffy on what to do with them. I eventually take them so the mother will leave the eggs and care for the live chicks. There are lots of tricks that I've read about to see if there is a live chick inside. But what I normally do is to hold the egg against my ear and tap it with my fingernail. And listen very carefully for peeping. It may not be a very good test, because I've never heard the peeping that would tell me to save the egg. Not once it's gone long enough that I think the hatch is over. After a couple of days, usually the third morning, I discard the remaining eggs, and just walk away. They were nonviable. That's what I tell myself. I'm not one of those people who can bear to open them up and see what went wrong.

Good luck with your hatch, and keep us posted.

 

[dianneS]

Chicks can live for as long as three days without food or water. I have cochins that stay on the nest forever waiting for all of the eggs to hatch.

She will eventually give up on the eggs that don't hatch. You could candle them. If they are not fertile at all, it will be very obvious. If the eggs were all layed at different times, they may not all hatch on the same day. I collect the eggs that I want to set under my broody and refrigerate them for a few days before I give them to her. They have always hatched on the same day that way. When I allow the hens to accumulate their own nest of eggs, especially if the nest was laid by several different hens, they never hatch all together. Several always remain unhatched, or they hatch days apart.

If the chick just hatched yesterday, it will be fine under mom for another day or even two. The chicks absorb enough nutrients from the yolk sac before they hatch that they can live for three days or so without food or water.

My incubator chicks stay in the bator for two days after they hatch and even when I put them in the brooder with food and water, they usually don't start eating and drinking for another day after that.

 

[Chicken D's mom]

Thank you so much for your advice.
I have to go to work in a while so I'm thinking when I get home this evening if nothing has changed, I might try and "steal" an egg and try the fingernail trick or try candleing and see what happens.

I'll also offer food and water for the chick. The chick came out from under her, but she nudged it back under her...tucked it away.

As long as the new chick is okay, then I'll give Suzie a little more time depending on what the candleing shows.

Thank you again, very much!

 

[key west chick]

They little chickie will be fine for a few days. The absorbed yolk will provide it with nutrients for about 3 days. This allows for a staggered hatch in the wild without the first chicks starving. This is also why hatcheries can ship day old chicks, they are still getting nutrients from the yolk and dont need food or water.

 

[Chicken D's mom]

Thank you all ...you have really helped me "Chill"....

I will beeee Paaaatient.......(it's really hard)