Momma hen questions

[BunnyTree]

Hello! For the first time ever I had a broody hen hatch some eggs! Woohoo!!! But now i have questions...Her first two chicks hatched Saturday morning, then another Sunday morning, one Sunday night, and then another is working its way out of its shell right now (Monday morning) So my question is, will the chicks be fine with mom this long if shes not taking them out for food and water? I know they should be able to survive the first 72 hours or so without food and water but will there be a time to intervene and stick them in a brooder with food and water? I'd prefer to leave them with mom but also...I'm just not sure how long she is going to sit for, although she is still hatching eggs. Thanks in advance for the opinions, experience and help!

 

[Theorrin]

momma will get up and feed her chicks when they start getting hungry. they only thing youll have to worry about is if u want any eggs hatching after

 

[FunClucks]

After 3 days or so, momma will feed her chicks and often abandon any left in the nest. You can take any unhatched eggs at that point and stick them in an incubator and see if they hatch. If they only hatch a day or so later, you can try putting them under her at night and see if she'll raise them along with the ones that hatched in the nest. But if it's more than a day or two later, best to raise the incubated chicks in a brooder since they'll be quite a bit smaller than their siblings and momma will probably not accept them at that point.

 

[BunnyTree]

After 3 days or so, momma will feed her chicks and often abandon any left in the nest. You can take any unhatched eggs at that point and stick them in an incubator and see if they hatch. If they only hatch a day or so later, you can try putting them under her at night and see if she'll raise them along with the ones that hatched in the nest. But if it's more than a day or two later, best to raise the incubated chicks in a brooder since they'll be quite a bit smaller than their siblings and momma will probably not accept them at that point.

Do I need to have chick feed around for when she kicks them out of the nesting box? Also, the box is about 2' off the ground, will that fall/jump be a problem?

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

She won't kick her chicks out of the nest box; instead she will take the chicks out of the nest box and leave any unhatched eggs behind. She may also leave any chicks behind that are too newly hatched to fall/jump from the nest that is 2 feet off the ground. Plus, her chicks won't be able to follow her back up to the nest box after they leave. Broodies often instinctely sleep on the ground for a few days after their chicks hatch to avoid this problem. However, does your broody have a safe place to make a ground nest with her chicks?

 

[FunClucks]

Yes, you will need chick food depending on the size and composition of the adult food. We make sure to have some 20% all flock (Purina Flockraiser) crumble on hand. Purina all-flock pellets are too big for chicks, but other brands of pellets might be okay (they have some pellets that are smaller or broken up more). You have to look at it to judge if the chicks can pick out the smaller pieces.

 

[WoDia]

I had one of my Mille Fleur d’Uccle on eggs until a few days ago. Once chick 1 hatched, she fully focused on it and stopped sitting on the remaining eggs. They are now in the incubator, because my personal experience has been that my girls stop sitting on the remaining eggs once the first chick or 2 have hatched. I’ve also had success with integrating newly hatched incubator chicks back with their moms. Broodies seem to get so interested (and excited, of course) in tending to the hatchlings that their focus is shifted away from the unhatched eggs. I’ll also note that my broodies have been great mothers and teachers to their chicks. Make sure mommy and chicks have a safe place, because bad things can happen to chicks in the flock setting. Have chick food and chick waterer available. Mom will show them how to eat and drink. Again, I speak from my personal experience only, and I wish you the best.

 

[WhiteCollarWeezy]

After 3 days or so, momma will feed her chicks and often abandon any left in the nest. You can take any unhatched eggs at that point and stick them in an incubator and see if they hatch. If they only hatch a day or so later, you can try putting them under her at night and see if she'll raise them along with the ones that hatched in the nest. But if it's more than a day or two later, best to raise the incubated chicks in a brooder since they'll be quite a bit smaller than their siblings and momma will probably not accept them at that point.

My first brooder hen hatched her clutch in the top drawer of a file cabinet. I closed top drawer just far enough so she could get out to eat and the roosters would piss off and let her sit in peace. When she got closer to hatch time I shut the bottom drawer just in case. I came home and she had hatched 6. 5 of which were in that bottom drawer, and #6 had fallen out of the nest. She was frantic. Whenever she could see he wasn't technically under her, she freaked. I got her and the chicks in their own Lil space and incubated the other eggs. Whenever i tried to give them to her, she was not having it. She really disliked certain ones, like she knew they weren't hers.