I NEED YOUR HELP/ADVICE FAST!!!! please!!

[chickens? not yet]

Quote:
It's different with a broody hen. You want to wait until she's finished hatching before you disturb her at all. If she gets upset and gets off the nest, chicks can get shrink wrapped or injured and die. Bothering a broody during hatch should be a last resort.

I love your say'n As a matter of fact, the world DOES revolve around my German Shepherds
love it love it love it- some people just don't understand some things!! LOL

 

[cat1994]

Quote:
I closed off all ways for my other hens to get to my broody hen and her new lil chick. I understand that you want the other hens to have a nest box to lie in but they will find a place to lie, mine did, it was right on the ground in the open by the door to the nesting area. I left my broody hen and her chick alone for just a day and moved them the next day, to a safe brooder.

 

[gritsar]

chickens? not yet :

Quote:
It's different with a broody hen. You want to wait until she's finished hatching before you disturb her at all. If she gets upset and gets off the nest, chicks can get shrink wrapped or injured and die. Bothering a broody during hatch should be a last resort.

I love your say'n As a matter of fact, the world DOES revolve around my German Shepherds
love it love it love it- some people just don't understand some things!! LOL​

That's right. As I tell my stepdaughters all the time, the boys live here, you don't. Should have gotten all the spoiling you could get while you were young and still at home. Now it's the boys turn.

 

[JanaBanana1]

Thank you so much everyone for your quick response

I took a piece of peg board and put it from of her box to block out the other hens. So far there are 2 hatched babies..

SO ADORABLE! I did notice one egg that looked cracked up and smashed in a bit. I hope its not what you were all referring to as "shrink wrapped"

Crossing my fingers and toes that its still viable. The nesting box is one of 4 so the other hens have a place to lay their eggs. In fact the dominant hen was so determined to get in the house she jumped the make-shift fence I put up and laid an egg in the other box.

My husband will have to put a board up so the babies can get out as the boxes are up high. Now my fear is going to be when they leave the nest the other big hens pecking them. OY! this is nerve wracking. I will put her and the babies in a wire rabbit hutch in a couple days I guess away from the other hens. Thanks again everyone. Here is one of the babies

 

[JanaBanana1]

It looks like one didnt make it

The egg is all smashed around it?? Don't think its alive?? Should I do anything??

 

[JanaBanana1]

Someone said I could help it? Should I????

 

[2hot2chicken]

Im not a very expereinced person in this area yet.
If it were me though I would just to make sure it is not dead already or in trouble. Sounds like it could have gotten smashed maybe when the other hen was in the nest box?
If you decide to remove the egg and open to see if its still alive, there are a couple of videos on youtube that show people helping the chicks hatch that I found good. Make sure to keep it moist by rubbing a lil water on it with your finger as you are working on it slowly. And remember you may have to wait until its dark and the hen is sleeping to return it to her if it does make it. Since you are hatching it awway from her she may try to reject it if she sees it. So have a brooder ready if that is what you are planning to do.

Very cute and good luck!

 

[StrayMagnet]

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I must have been lucky. as chick #11 Hatched on the 11th of July, the others I'm guessing the 8th sometime. adn they emerged on the 9th (how long after hatch and drying do they venture out..?)

and Chick#11 hatched without mom on the nest.. she was actualy out running the coop with her other 10 chicks. and had been since july 9th when i discoverd them.. I'm sure they were not hatched before the 8th as the kids were getting their bikes from under the porch the days before it., and if they were hatched she'd have attacked the kids.. beacuse she attacked the dog the day we discoverd the chicks.. but this was before.. I knew about the baby's. it was a few hours after I finish walkin the dog that I discoverd em

I was actualy bout to go remove the 2 unhatched eggs.. and That was when I discovered the pip. and decided to leave it.. as i was not sure the chicks or mom put the hole there... hubby wanted me to toss it he was sure it was dead.

but i told him lets just see. whats one more day. well I"m glad I did not toss that egg. cause by dinnertime we had a 11th chick.

I have not held any of them. mainly cause hubby said I may not want to as i'd get attacked. considering Mommy is a stray who trusts me enough to get food off me.. but not enough for me to handle her. and she would not like me handling her chicks. I'll waite till their older and she's less intrested in Defending them. then I'll start handling them.

 

[gritsar]

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I have not had a good experience with helping them. As one chicken book says, if they aren't strong enough to make it out of the shell on their own, they won't be strong enough for life in the farmyard. We ended up having to cull the one chick I helped. He had neurological deficits of some sort.

Is there room in your coop for the hutch or perhaps a large dog crate? I use german shepherd sized crates in my coop for mama's to hatch in and keep the babies in for a few days. After that, mama brings them out and introduces them to the flock. Most mama hens are fierce about protecting their chicks. If and when you decide to move mama and the chicks best to do it at night and work quietly.

So far, I've had 5 batches of chicks raised in the coop and done fine.

 

[JanaBanana1]

The one didn't make it.. I went out again to check and pulled it out from under hen and it was smashed

It did try to get out, but just never made it. Poor thing. There was still one under her with a piece of shell broke off but not through the membrane. I am going to leave it alone and just let it hatch on its own if it will... let nature take its course.