Mother keeps walking off pipped egg

[tatiana916]

My broody hens egg has pipped but she keeps walking off with the older chick!

What is the best course of action? I dont have an incubator just a broody coop with heatlamp.

She does seem to be spending time sitting on the egg but will get up and walk off every 15mins or so.

Should I take the egg away and try and hatch it in a small box under the heatlamp with a bit of water in for humidity? i know its not ideal but not sure if it will hatch without the constant heat of the broody.

I can hear the chick inside the egg peeping.

any suggestions welcome

 

[sumi]

I'm wondering if taking the chick away from her for a bit would help? Just thinking out loud here... Ideally you should keep the hatching chick in a fairly humid environment now (65%+) until it hatched. Did she only sit on two eggs?

 

[tatiana916]

Shes only a young hen, about 10 months old so when she went broody I didnt think anything of it. After about a week looked under her and she had collected everyones eggs 3 were fertile so I left them there not expecting her to stay on them. Obviously they were all laid at different times so the development is at different stages. This one chick hatched a week ago and is starting to explore.


I only expected one to hatch so I brought some newborn chicks that are in a brooder at the moment. I was going to put them under her today because the newborn is strong enough to keep up with them but when i saw this other egg pipped i decided to wait.

She seems to have stayed on the egg for a while. Should I make the coop dark to discourage her from walking around?