Jane is hatching an egg right now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What do I do?

[matt1898]

Happy New year everyone!(Yes its been a while since I posted) Lol. Long story short, my GLW has been under our back deck for 3 weeks...and to the exact day....I hear peeping.

She is so far up under the deck we can't get to her without pulling up floor boards. I don't know how long it has been peeping and can't see anything but some of her feathers. The chick can't stay out due to dogs, barn cats and weather. Should I pluck it up and put in the brooder or should I wait till mamma comes out to eat??? Never done this before.

 

[Blooie]

Block off the deck, securing it from whatever critters you are worried about using whatever you can, and then let her do what she knows how to do. I think you should have done the moving before now, but since you'd have had to take up the floorboards in the deck to even get the eggs out to move with her you were kinda stuck. She knows how to take care of those babies better than we do, and chickens have been stashing eggs, only to emerge weeks later with a new family, for forever. So trust her, but do your part to cover any entrances where predators might get to them. At this point that's about all you can do.

You can put a tarp over that section of the deck to protect them from the elements and remove one of the blocks when you can be out there to watch for her to come out with the chicks. If she sees an opening after being stuck under there for a time, she may eagerly head for it, chicks scurrying behind her. If you really want to move them to safer digs - and who wouldn't? - putting the block back so she can't get back under there sounds like your only shot at moving her and the babies. How have you been getting food and water to her before, or did she come out for that from time to time?

If it was me, I'd block off the lower section of the deck with something substantial, provide food and water for her and the chicks, and just let her be the mommy.

 

[matt1898]

Block off the deck, securing it from whatever critters you are worried about using whatever you can, and then let her do what she knows how to do. I think you should have done the moving before now, but since you'd have had to take up the floorboards in the deck to even get the eggs out to move with her you were kinda stuck. She knows how to take care of those babies better than we do, and chickens have been stashing eggs, only to emerge weeks later with a new family, for forever. So trust her, but do your part to cover any entrances where predators might get to them. At this point that's about all you can do.

You can put a tarp over that section of the deck to protect them from the elements and remove one of the blocks when you can be out there to watch for her to come out with the chicks. If she sees an opening after being stuck under there for a time, she may eagerly head for it, chicks scurrying behind her. If you really want to move them to safer digs - and who wouldn't? - putting the block back so she can't get back under there sounds like your only shot at moving her and the babies. How have you been getting food and water to her before, or did she come out for that from time to time?

If it was me, I'd block off the lower section of the deck with something substantial, provide food and water for her and the chicks, and just let her be the mommy.

Yeap, she has been coming out once a day or so to eat. We figured out a way to remove just the section above her nest to grab her if need be without much of a problem. I am going to block everything off so nothing can get under there but leave her an enclosure with feed and water. I can actually lay on the ground and see her, but I don't think the chick is out of the shell yet. Once it is, I already have a brooder ready to go(I have been raising EE's the past month). I hope it survives the hatching because I am really curious to see what a GLW/EE cross will look like.

 

[Varglet]

I would let her raise the chicks on her own, since she went to all that trouble incubating the eggs on her own. She wants to be a mother, obviously. But it's your choice, of course.

 

[matt1898]

I would let her raise the chicks on her own, since she went to all that trouble incubating the eggs on her own. She wants to be a mother, obviously. But it's your choice, of course.

I know. We have enough extra hardware around here that I could probably make a little run just for her. I honestly wasn't expecting her eggs to even be fertile considering I have not once seen her get mounted by either rooster in a year. Now I know.

 

[Varglet]

They do it when you aren't looking. I have one rooster that hangs out in the nest boxes so he can get his time in with the girls.

 

[matt1898]

Nice. I find that both funny and creepy.