Late Hatchers from Brooding Hen, Help!

[BugBittenAnkles]

Hello,

I'm a new owner to chickens and I'm in need of SERIOUS help. My family wasn't the most careful with keeping track of eggs and we found out that one of our hens had hidden away a whole batch to brood on (a whopping 10 eggs!). We felt terrible trying to take them away from her but assumed because she was a small breed, she couldn't properly incubate all of them so we figured that we would wait out the 21-25 days. If we had chicks, hurray! If not, then we would see about breaking out of her brooding nature.

3 days ago, 10 healthy chicks were born. All well and good, she had completely abandoned her spot, leading her large little flock around and finding another comfortable area to warm them. On the 2nd night, we decided to bring them in to keep better track of them and provide better care.

Now we come to today. Her area was so out of reach, and because we had counted what were for sure 10 eggs, we didn't give it much thought until three hours ago when my mother heard some chirping.

There were THREE. MORE. EGGS. One newly born, the other two complete. We frantically put her under the hen, but we weren't sure if she was willing to stick around to her corner of the box we put the whole batch in. We decided to put the other eggs underneath her to trigger her instinct to brood, but just 15 minutes ago, I noticed one of the eggs is pipped, and the chick inside is moving.

Now we SERIOUSLY don't know what to do. The first hatched chick has dried and fluffed up, but is it okay to keep him in along with his 10, 3-day old brethren? What about the pipped egg? We don't have an incubator at all. We're thinking that the reason these last eggs were able to hatch without their mother is because of the heatwave we're experiencing in Los Angeles, CA right now, but the temp is going down now that it's becoming evening (still around 75-80º F but I've read an incubator should be 99º) and we're panicking.

 

[Redhead Rae]

Hello,

I'm a new owner to chickens and I'm in need of SERIOUS help. My family wasn't the most careful with keeping track of eggs and we found out that one of our hens had hidden away a whole batch to brood on (a whopping 10 eggs!). We felt terrible trying to take them away from her but assumed because she was a small breed, she couldn't properly incubate all of them so we figured that we would wait out the 21-25 days. If we had chicks, hurray! If not, then we would see about breaking out of her brooding nature.

3 days ago, 10 healthy chicks were born. All well and good, she had completely abandoned her spot, leading her large little flock around and finding another comfortable area to warm them. On the 2nd night, we decided to bring them in to keep better track of them and provide better care.

Now we come to today. Her area was so out of reach, and because we had counted what were for sure 10 eggs, we didn't give it much thought until three hours ago when my mother heard some chirping.

There were THREE. MORE. EGGS. One newly born, the other two complete. We frantically put her under the hen, but we weren't sure if she was willing to stick around to her corner of the box we put the whole batch in. We decided to put the other eggs underneath her to trigger her instinct to brood, but just 15 minutes ago, I noticed one of the eggs is pipped, and the chick inside is moving.

Now we SERIOUSLY don't know what to do. The first hatched chick has dried and fluffed up, but is it okay to keep him in along with his 10, 3-day old brethren? What about the pipped egg? We don't have an incubator at all. We're thinking that the reason these last eggs were able to hatch without their mother is because of the heatwave we're experiencing in Los Angeles, CA right now, but the temp is going down now that it's becoming evening (still around 75-80º F but I've read an incubator should be 99º) and we're panicking.

Lower temps around hatching are less detrimental than they are in early development. Once the chick is fluffed, I would just shove it under mom after dark. It should be just fine. I've grafted 1 week old incubator hatched chicks to a hen that was hatching out eggs she sat on. a 3 day difference is fine.

 

[BugBittenAnkles]

Thank you. Yeah, after he fluffed up we incorporated him into the rest of the flock. I'm worried he might have splayed legs and have done the band aid method on him, though I'm worried I had let 24 hours pass by before I noticed he had trouble walking and it wasn't just newborn baby flopping.

I'm still worried about the other eggs, though. Is it really okay to have a pipped egg with the rest of the bumbling chicks? Mama hen is doing an ok job tucking them underneath her and brooding but walks away sometimes leaving the pipped egg alone.

Again, we're super new to this and were half-convinced that the eggs wouldn't even hatch, so it's why we're so completely unprepared for these late bloomers. I feel like a bad, clueless parent who procrastinated on reading the baby books

 

[ChickenyChickeny]

Thank you. Yeah, after he fluffed up we incorporated him into the rest of the flock. I'm worried he might have splayed legs and have done the band aid method on him, though I'm worried I had let 24 hours pass by before I noticed he had trouble walking and it wasn't just newborn baby flopping.

I'm still worried about the other eggs, though. Is it really okay to have a pipped egg with the rest of the bumbling chicks? Mama hen is doing an ok job tucking them underneath her and brooding but walks away sometimes leaving the pipped egg alone.

Again, we're super new to this and were half-convinced that the eggs wouldn't even hatch, so it's why we're so completely unprepared for these late bloomers. I feel like a bad, clueless parent who procrastinated on reading the baby books

Don’t feel bad about it

 

[Redhead Rae]

Thank you. Yeah, after he fluffed up we incorporated him into the rest of the flock. I'm worried he might have splayed legs and have done the band aid method on him, though I'm worried I had let 24 hours pass by before I noticed he had trouble walking and it wasn't just newborn baby flopping.

I'm still worried about the other eggs, though. Is it really okay to have a pipped egg with the rest of the bumbling chicks? Mama hen is doing an ok job tucking them underneath her and brooding but walks away sometimes leaving the pipped egg alone.

Again, we're super new to this and were half-convinced that the eggs wouldn't even hatch, so it's why we're so completely unprepared for these late bloomers. I feel like a bad, clueless parent who procrastinated on reading the baby books

If mama is sitting on them, that is the best thing for them. No worries at all!