how long will hen wait for eggs to hatch

[floman13]

My very broody cochin bantam is finally getting to hatch out some chicks. I thought they were 21 days on 4/6 but we found our first chick yesterday. How long will she wait on the others to hatch? Should I pull this chick out and bring it inside for awhile. So the others get a chance to hatch.I thought 2 eggs were only a 1 or days ahead of the others butu husband just told me they might be a week ahead because he did not get her eggs. Help what do I do??

 

[chooks4life]

My very broody cochin bantam is finally getting to hatch out some chicks. I thought they were 21 days on 4/6 but we found our first chick yesterday. How long will she wait on the others to hatch?

It doesn't matter how good a mother she seems, she must prove herself in every aspect of mothering before you will know whether she can actually do the whole job or not. For example she may be doing the brooding well, but that doesn't prove she will follow that up with feeding them, snuggling them when cold, etc... She has to prove her ability at every step of the task before you will know whether or not she is a reliable mother.

For this reason I give early hatchers food and water at the nest. It also helps hens to stay longer, if they're the sort of hen that doesn't tend to themselves well during the brooding period and thus end up very dehydrated and very hungry by the time the first one hatches, and therefore might be driven to leave the clutch earlier.

Should I pull this chick out and bring it inside for awhile. So the others get a chance to hatch.

Some hens will quickly lose their bond to the baby and won't accept it back if you remove it for even a few hours; also the baby needs to remain bonded to the hen because a baby that loses that bond does not respond to the hen's prompts and this can quickly render the chick a target to the hen, since it now behaves like a stranger's chick rather than her own, and views her as a strange chicken rather than its mother.

They bond to voices primarily and if your voice is the only one it hears for a good few hours straight it may not take back the real mother. Simply not replying to its calls won't help either, many will become depressed and go into shutdown mode if separated from all vocal responses for enough hours. They can develop 'failure to thrive' syndrome.

Right now they will be bonded to the sound of one anothers' voices but can quickly lose this bond if separated so I personally would not risk it.

Learn to 'candle' I suggest, this way you can check all the eggs under her and spot any that are rotten. I can't really tell from your description when they began brooding so I can't offer much advice, sorry.

If you separate this baby you will need a sure way to look after it, a heat source and so forth, most likely as there's a very strong chance she won't take it back. She may, but it may also gamble the baby's life to find out, since even one decent peck can do permanent damage to a chick.

Good luck with them.

 

[floman13]

Thanks.that was a lot of info and the current hatchling is an EE x salmon favreolles she is only sitting on 1 of her own eggs and our roo is the SF

 

[chooks4life]

Sounds like it should be a fat baby then, if it's from a large egg...?

If so, it will likely not incite the hen to leave the nest soon. Some hens will ignore it even if it tries to do so.

I would personally leave it with the hen and just offer her food and water on the nest so she sits tight for longer. But of course go with whatever you feel is best and what the situation appears to demand.

Best wishes.

 

[floman13]

Thanks again we put food and water with them an blocked them in a good size area of the coop. She has another EE egg and a wayendot, maren, speckleD Sussex and one of her own we will see what happens she is currently taking good care of chick and eggs

 

[chooks4life]

Good luck with them. Always exciting to hatch new chooks.

Best wishes.

 

[amyweiand]

I have a black australorp who has been sitting in eggs for about 23 days now. Only 2 of 17 eggs have hatched. How long should I wait for the others to hatch?

 

[chooks4life]

I have a black australorp who has been sitting in eggs for about 23 days now. Only 2 of 17 eggs have hatched. How long should I wait for the others to hatch?

Depends when she started sitting. How sure are you that all those eggs started to develop as soon as she started sitting nonstop?

For example, as she was building the clutch (assuming it's all her own eggs) the first ones laid would have been partially developing a little bit every time she sat there to add to the clutch. So by the time she started sitting some were already ahead of the most recently laid in terms of development. So they can be a few days to a week behind.

But what's the chances other hens added to her clutch as well?

If you're not sure, you can try candling them, but otherwise I guess the safest bet would be to leave them and see if she will hatch more or just quit the nest.

Some hens don't stop brooding, they are thankfully a minority, but if she doesn't get up and leave the nest for the daytime hours in the next week you may have to intervene and take the clutch away to remove some incentive (though some compulsive sitters will also brood empty nests, and others will abandon chicks to find eggs to sit on instead).

I suggest you use a torch at night time to look at the eggs, holding the torch under each egg to see how developed it is.

If any have large portions of yellow or rather seethrough matter in them, regardless of the amount of dark (developed or rotting) mass you see, they are unlikely to hatch within a week so are goners if alive unless you have another hen to brood them, or an artificial incubator.

If they are full of dark matter (asides from the airpocket) they are either about to hatch or dead in shell (DIS). To help differentiate which is which, you can temporarily remove them from the nest and let them cool a little. Rotting ones cool very fast, in just a few minutes, live eggs can hold temperature for a long time. Rotting ones are also loose within the shell a lot of the time because the chalazae have rotted and are no longer securing the yolk, so if you gently move them backwards and forwards you feel a mass thudding around inside the egg with the movements. Not a good move if you're not sure you can be gentle enough or whether the egg is actually already pipping or not, so maybe not the best idea for a beginner. Since you're not sure of the dates with this clutch it's best to wait it out.

You can also listen to them; eggs that are about to hatch but not yet pipping have a sort of dull sound when you gently tap them, once pipping you hear rustling and the shell sounds papery when you gently tap it with a fingertip.

Rotten eggs... Well, bit hard to explain but you'll most likely develop a feel for what they are like in terms of sound or sensation. Sometimes you can also smell them rotting if they died early or have an aggressive septic bacterium.

If not sure, just leave them and see how it turns out.

Good luck.