Miracle Eggs

[LilyD]

Have to post because I am just amazed. 21 days ago I set six eggs (5 Silver Gray Dorking eggs and one Dorking/Cochin mix egg) under my broody hen in the coop because she was being so broody she was chasing off the other hens. Last week I went out to clean the coop and take care of the hens for the day and 4 of the 6 were on the floor and my poor broody hen has been chased off the nest by another hen, so I grabbed up all the eggs and brought them inside just to be safe. I candled all of them and two of the cold eggs were showing good growth, the rest of the 6 looked infertile. I put the two eggs into the incubator without much hope that they would do anything. On the 17th I put those two into lock down and sat to wait. I got up this morning at 3:30 am and one of the eggs had pipped and was chirping. Fingers are crossed that at least one of the babies will make it, but who knows maybe they both will. Maybe eggs are tougher than we think.

 

[LilyD]

First baby out of the egg and chirping but very quietly. I hope he or she gets louder and maybe encourages the other baby to get out of the egg too.

 

[annanimal]

Congratulations, that is sooo exciting!
Are you going to give the chick/chicks to the broody hen or are you going to raise them?

 

[mshuntjump]

So exciting for you! If you are thinking about giving the chicks back to the broody, that is the very wrong thing to do. If the broody is not there to hatch the babies throughout the whole hatching process, she will not recognize the chicks as her own, and will kill them.

 

[Ridgerunner]

So exciting for you!  If you are thinking about giving the chicks back to the broody, that is the very wrong thing to do. If the broody is not there to hatch the babies throughout the whole hatching process, she will not recognize the chicks as her own, and will kill them. 

Do you know how many people have successfully done this? You are dealing with living animals so no one can give absolute guarantees on what they will do, but it’s pretty common to put very young chicks under a broody at night after it is really dark so they spend the night under her. Almost always the broody accepts them. Some people have even successfully done it in the middle of the day, but there is more risk then.

The younger they are the better. If you try it with older chicks it is more likely to fail. But if you try it with chicks three days old or less, most of us are very successful when we do this. It is better to let her hatch some eggs, then add more chicks to hers, but many of us have done this with shipped chicks or those from feed stores.

What probably happened to the broody was that she was off the nest taking her daily constitutional and found another hen on her nest when she came back, laying an egg. The broody got confused and went to the wrong nest. I had that happen yesterday. That doesn’t explain why they were on the floor. Maybe you should raise the lip on the nest a bit so it’s harder for them to scratch them out.

This happened last year. The eggs were cold to the touch when I found them. I just put the broody back on the right nest. She hatched 11 out of 11 eggs. They are tougher than many people think. Also, the later in the incubation they are, the more heat the chick inside generates.

Since you candled them and found they were not developing, those others would not have hatched anyway. Glad you had some success.

 

[annanimal]

So exciting for you!  If you are thinking about giving the chicks back to the broody, that is the very wrong thing to do. If the broody is not there to hatch the babies throughout the whole hatching process, she will not recognize the chicks as her own, and will kill them. 

I only said that because I have done it many times successfully and it is better to let the mom raise them because they learn things from their mom that we can't teach them, so yes it is exciting!
You will very rarely fail at this if you do this the right way, the way that Ridgerunner said.

 

[LilyD]

Congratulations, that is sooo exciting!
Are you going to give the chick/chicks to the broody hen or are you going to raise them?

I thought about that but with two hens fighting over being broody I would have to pull her from the coop to add the baby so the other hen didn't take it and kill it.

Do you know how many people have successfully done this? You are dealing with living animals so no one can give absolute guarantees on what they will do, but it’s pretty common to put very young chicks under a broody at night after it is really dark so they spend the night under her. Almost always the broody accepts them. Some people have even successfully done it in the middle of the day, but there is more risk then.

The younger they are the better. If you try it with older chicks it is more likely to fail. But if you try it with chicks three days old or less, most of us are very successful when we do this. It is better to let her hatch some eggs, then add more chicks to hers, but many of us have done this with shipped chicks or those from feed stores.

What probably happened to the broody was that she was off the nest taking her daily constitutional and found another hen on her nest when she came back, laying an egg. The broody got confused and went to the wrong nest. I had that happen yesterday. That doesn’t explain why they were on the floor. Maybe you should raise the lip on the nest a bit so it’s harder for them to scratch them out.

This happened last year. The eggs were cold to the touch when I found them. I just put the broody back on the right nest. She hatched 11 out of 11 eggs. They are tougher than many people think. Also, the later in the incubation they are, the more heat the chick inside generates.

Since you candled them and found they were not developing, those others would not have hatched anyway. Glad you had some success.

All I know is that I came in and Michelle the broody hen was sitting on the bottom. The other hen was in the same nesting box sitting on her head and all but two of the egg were on the floor and cold. Once I saw that it wasn't going to work to have her raise them with the other hen having access I took all the eggs. Both birds are still broody but are sitting on the daily eggs that I take away. Would have loved to let her go to term and see how she was as a mom but was too worried for the babies to let them keep fighting over the eggs. Right now I don't really have a spot that I can separate her so she can broody by herself since my extra grow out coop has a rooster in it in solitary confinement.

 

[LilyD]

Some pictures of my little Silver Gray Dorking Miracle baby. So far the other egg hasn't pipped or done anything but it's only day 21 so it has time yet.

 

[annanimal]

Oh, the other one is broody to, how fun, well not really...
Do you usually let the mama raise the chicks in the coop or do you move her to her own little place?
The baby is adorable, you can call her Mira short for miracle and Mira in Greek means luck so I think it suits her!

 

[LilyD]

Oh, the other one is broody to, how fun, well not really...

Do you usually let the mama raise the chicks in the coop or do you move her to her own little place?
The baby is adorable, you can call her Mira short for miracle and Mira in Greek means luck so I think it suits her!

In the past I have had both happen. Mommas raising babies in the pen and being so cranky no one would dare go near her eggs or babies and also I have had a broody that sat on eggs in the woods. We thought we had lost her but since she was already separated from the flock we put her and the eggs in a brooder and had her hatch there. It depends really on the hen. Michelle was a new mom so I wasn't sure how she would be when she started brooding. Now I know if she wants to raise babies it will need to be out of the coop. Right now though I don't have any extra places to put her since I have babies and juveneilles in all my grow out coops

I like the name Mira very cool. Looks like we might need to think of another name too. When I got home for the evening the other egg was pipped just waiting to see the baby come out.