JUNE - JULY HATCH-ALONG!!!!!!!

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Oh no, oh no! I hadn't thought this would happen, because she's been such a great first time broody, but Lemondrop the Orpington is a murderous mama!

I put this question out on its own thread, but I thought I'd ask here, too:

Today is Day 20, and I went to check on her and discovered a chick just hatching. Lemondrop discovered it, too and instantly began to attack it viciously. I scooped it up and tried to quietly slip it under her once she re-settled on the eggs, but she went after it again, so I set up and emergency brooder and brought it in the house to finish hatching.

Now, there are eight other eggs under her ready to hatch today or tomorrow. What do I do? Please help! I was so looking forward to having her raise the chicks.

Do I:
-Take each chick as they hatch, before she attacks them?
-Wait and see if she does better with the others?
-Try again to give this one back to her?
-Try to get an experienced hen mama (the one that hatched Lemondrop) to either hatch the eggs or raise the chicks? (She's not broody now, though, so I doubt that would work.)
-Any other ideas?

Thanks for any help you can give.

I’m sorry that your hen is behaving badly! This was my first year to try incubating/brooding with hens and guinea hens. I scoured BYC for info and found so many stories about killer moms that I was just sure that my broody hens would turn killer... Three hens all did so so well, that I guess it just had to happen that some bad moms would pop up... My guinea moms turned out to be either very bad at motherhood or downright murderous, I’m not sure which. I felt terrible looking at those dead keets and am hatching the remaining viable eggs in my incubator right now. In addition to feeling badly for the dead keets, I also feel bad for the missed opportunities that won’t happen... The guinea hens are upset and confused that I took their babies and eggs, and I’m already missing the happy fantasies I had of a happy guinea flock raising happy keets, teaching them to forage, integrating them into the flock, etc. I am excited though to see the keets hatching from the incubator and am glad that I’m giving them a chance. Best of luck with whatever you decide, but the BYC consensus seems to be that hens that attack chicks can’t be trusted. Mothering is instinctual behavior, and some hens may have the wrong instincts. As with every rule, there are exceptions... I will probably try again with my guineas next year, if I can devise a way to keep their nests individual, since I think that having a communal nest may have been part of my problem.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Thank you so much, @CluckNDoodle for your fast and really thoughtful reply. It gives me more to think about!
Yes, this is a brand new broody. I do have incubators I can dust off and set up. I just wish so much that Lemon would raise the chicks and protect them and integrate them into the flock. It's good to know, though, that it's probably all or nothing, that she wouldn't just reject one chick and accept the others.

Since there was another Cream Legbar egg in that lot, it may also hatch today. I'll keep an eye on things and observe whether Lemondrop may just be managing or helping the chick, though it looked like a scary attack to me! I'm kind of a newbie with broodies, myself.

If she's not trying to kill it, and if I think they'll be safe, maybe I'll slip this first chick back in. But, if she's gone crazy and wants to murder them all, I'll either bring them all in one by one or get that incubator started up.

Thanks again.

I've had hens go broody 6 times this year and 5 were successful. Sooo many things went wrong with my first broody hatch, it's amazing that I still love using broody hens so much, it was that bad.
But one thing I learned from my first broody is that once I decide to put fertilized eggs under them I kick on an incubator the same day, I calibrate it and leave it running for the entire duration of the broody hens incubation, because things can go wrong at any point during those 21 days. Most of the time it's perfectly fine but you won't have that urgent feeling of "oh no what do I do now?" In the case that something does happen.
Once a hen proves to be a bad broody she's never allowed to go broody at my house again.
I have my fingers crossed that your chicks do well regardless of whether your hen is doing the parenting or you!

 

[Cerise1924]

I moved the eggs out from under the broody and took them right into a pre-warmed and humid incubator. I think that was the right move. Once Lemondrop was off the eggs and in the poultry yard with the flock, she was scratching and pecking around, totally unconcerned about where the eggs were.

However, at least one of the eggs had pipped! Do you think I put it in danger by moving it from under the broody into the incubator? I put the eggs in a box with a warm, damp kitchen towel to try to avoid a humidity drop as I transported them.

Lol, I thought I had given all the work to the broody, but now I'm back to fussing over eggs during lockdown.

 

[Cerise1924]

Regardless what you decide to do, and it's all really a gut decision here (sorry, no help!), set up that incubator! Better to be safe than sorry, and you may want it if there’s an emergency and they aren’t ready for a brooder.....

After my last duck hatch I’ll never not have a separate incubator going during hatches.

I was really glad to find my brooder and incubator sterilized. easy to find and ready to go. Thank goodness I got organized after last summer's hatches. Your advice is very good.

 

[Cerise1924]

I've had hens go broody 6 times this year and 5 were successful. Sooo many things went wrong with my first broody hatch, it's amazing that I still love using broody hens so much, it was that bad.
But one thing I learned from my first broody is that once I decide to put fertilized eggs under them I kick on an incubator the same day, I calibrate it and leave it running for the entire duration of the broody hens incubation, because things can go wrong at any point during those 21 days. Most of the time it's perfectly fine but you won't have that urgent feeling of "oh no what do I do now?" In the case that something does happen.
Once a hen proves to be a bad broody she's never allowed to go broody at my house again.
I have my fingers crossed that your chicks do well regardless of whether your hen is doing the parenting or you!

Thanks for sharing your experience and advice. I agree, not more chicks for Lemondrop. And I appreciate the good wishes. I've told my daughter that she and I have been drafted into being mama hens this summer.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I moved the eggs out from under the broody and took them right into a pre-warmed and humid incubator. I think that was the right move. Once Lemondrop was off the eggs and in the poultry yard with the flock, she was scratching and pecking around, totally unconcerned about where the eggs were.

However, at least one of the eggs had pipped! Do you think I put it in danger by moving it from under the broody into the incubator? I put the eggs in a box with a warm, damp kitchen towel to try to avoid a humidity drop as I transported them.

Lol, I thought I had given all the work to the broody, but now I'm back to fussing over eggs during lockdown.View attachment 1842238

The baby is too cute!! They should be perfectly fine from the move! The farther along in development the chicks are, the more forgiving they are with temperature changes. Keep us updated on the hatch!

 

[Cerise1924]

The baby is too cute!! They should be perfectly fine from the move! The farther along in development the chicks are, the more forgiving they are with temperature changes. Keep us updated on the hatch!

Thanks, that is reassuring!

 

[Cerise1924]

I’m sorry that your hen is behaving badly! This was my first year to try incubating/brooding with hens and guinea hens. I scoured BYC for info and found so many stories about killer moms that I was just sure that my broody hens would turn killer... Three hens all did so so well, that I guess it just had to happen that some bad moms would pop up... My guinea moms turned out to be either very bad at motherhood or downright murderous, I’m not sure which. I felt terrible looking at those dead keets and am hatching the remaining viable eggs in my incubator right now. In addition to feeling badly for the dead keets, I also feel bad for the missed opportunities that won’t happen... The guinea hens are upset and confused that I took their babies and eggs, and I’m already missing the happy fantasies I had of a happy guinea flock raising happy keets, teaching them to forage, integrating them into the flock, etc. I am excited though to see the keets hatching from the incubator and am glad that I’m giving them a chance. Best of luck with whatever you decide, but the BYC consensus seems to be that hens that attack chicks can’t be trusted. Mothering is instinctual behavior, and some hens may have the wrong instincts. As with every rule, there are exceptions... I will probably try again with my guineas next year, if I can devise a way to keep their nests individual, since I think that having a communal nest may have been part of my problem.

Yes, to all that! I am pretty new with broodies, too. Last year, I had a tiny bantam hatch and raise a sole Orpington chick (who is now the murderous mama), and a sweet Brahma was the best mother ever to a clutch of bantams, but she was so big and heavy she accidentally squashed one. I felt so bad about the dead chick, I can imagine what it was like with your keets. I'm so sorry. As you say, though, it's good to give the surviving eggs a chance in the incubator. We do the best we can, and try to learn as we go.

 

[Slash3]

I have shipped Welsh harlequin eggs under a broody duck. Started with 15, down to 12 so far. We're on day 14 expected around July 6. I'm going to be putting some of them in the incubator now that it's free and she's an unproven broody.

I currently have 5 WH left out of 6 shipped. All seem to be doing well on day 21 now. Lost 1 on day 9. Fingers crossed for at least a couple of hatches. Not had much luck with shipped eggs. Feeling hopeful this time though due on the 18th.

 

[BuckeyeFoodie]

Hmm, the link doesn't seem to be working for me. Another live hatch that I watched used Twitch and didn't seem to have any issues with that. I wonder if that would be an easier app for you to use?

New new new link, because I just got home and could set it back up - https://www.pscp.tv/w/1OdKrvLEqkAKX