How can I save my last two chicks from cannabalism(bad broody hen) with no incubator?

[coopdevil86]

Hello new here.
So here's a little background, and I apologize if too long to read...
Have had chickens for a little over a year. I have no experience, but my husband does. We originally wanted 8 hens, but ended up with one rooster out of the bunch. Our rooster is a beautiful golden Buff Orpington named Jackie (after Jackie Chan). For our hens we have 2 that are the same breed as our rooster named Blondie and Tanie, and 4 Wyandotte. But in the Wyandotte, we have 2 brown and black speckled named The Brownie Sisters, and 2 black and white speckled named Birdie and Beaker. And one Australorp, black with teal hints to her feathers named Runty(cause she was our smallest in the beginning).
We've just recently decided to hatch some eggs as a first try. Never have done this before. But after doing tons of research, learned one hen was being more "broody" then the others. So decided to test this out for next spring.

My Wyandotte Beaker was being such a good broody hen, until I discovered she's not going to raise the chicks after all.

She had a clutch of 6 eggs. All chosen for fertilization. I understand that sometimes if it's their first hatching they will kill the chicks.

Well that's what happened. Already lost 2 eggs because they hatched earlier then my calculations. We weren't there. But what a surprise when we check the nest and 2 marked eggs are missing from the pile! Nothing was left to give evidence of what happened.

How we discovered the truth, we learned we had an egg already in the piping stage. So we checked back a few hours later, and it had pecked a nice hole. Only to discover ants were in the nest and had been going inside the egg. (Didn't want to disturb the nest by replacing the bedding and run the risk she abandons the nest) The chick was strongly peeping inside, so I helped it out of the shell. As everything was going fine, Beaker pecks the chick. She looked nervous from the peeping of the chick. 
I knew in that moment, she wasn't going to raise the babes. We had prepared for the mother to raise the chicks, not us. So had to get supplies to take care of this baby.

Fast forward two days, everything is just fine! Baby is a little ball of cuteness!

My dilemma...
I still have 3 eggs under the Hen.
I have no incubator to finish the last days of incubation.
I've decided to leave them under the hen, as she's good sitting on the nest.

Yesterday I'm pretty sure I accidentally killed a chick out of my impatience. It was peeping in the shell but hadn't piped yet. In my fear of what happened to the others, I brought it inside with our chick under the heat lamp. Now there's no peeping or movement. It's been 12hrs. I think it got too hot. I put it back under the hen, and still no sign of life.

So now I'm down to 2 eggs left.
This morning in my routine, I checked on the nest. One has started piping!
I'm going to need to take the egg away, or mom and/or ants will get inside if the chick breaks through.

I guess my question is, how can I save my last two chicks? Everywhere I've read hasn't exactly been what I'm looking for. And also, is it ok to put these two new chicks with my other chick who's already 2 days old?

 

[lazy gardener]

You need to find a method of keeping the last 2 eggs at the right temp and humidity. For a still air situation, I think that's around 100 or 101 as measured at the top of the egg. You could set up a lamp, and increase the humidity by placing a damp sponge or rag around the egg, but not touching it. Do you net work with any groups of people who might have an incubator that you could borrow? Perhaps your state's thread on BYC? If you are successful hatching them, they can be put with the other chick as soon as they are up, dry, and running around.

 

[coopdevil86]

You need to find a method of keeping the last 2 eggs at the right temp and humidity.  For a still air situation, I think that's around 100 or 101 as measured at the top of the egg.  You could set up a lamp, and increase the humidity by placing a damp sponge or rag around the egg, but not touching it.  Do you net work with any groups of people who might have an incubator that you could borrow?  Perhaps your state's thread on BYC?  If you are successful hatching them, they can be put with the other chick as soon as they are up, dry, and running around.

 

[coopdevil86]

Thank you. I think I will try the sponge. I've been thankful that my hen does stay on the nest all the way. So I believe these last two chicks will be fine. Just crossing my fingers.