Move brooding hen before or after hatch day?

[Lelilamom]

I have an 18mos old Gold Laced Wyandotte that is brooding for the first time. I let her have 7 eggs. She kicked two out a week or so ago. One egg is crushed and the nest smells vile. One egg was pipping yesterday but no chicks. Today is Hatch Day and still no chicks.

Do I move her and her four remaining eggs to secure her or will that disrupt her too much? I really want to get her off that horribly smelling nest. Even her feathers smell terrible.

All my broodies in the past hatched in the coop or out about the yard and had very low hatch rates because of the conditions - other chickens ate the babies, rooster killed the competition, etc. I'd like to give this mama a chance.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

All you can do is try moving her. If she complains too much put her back to a clean nest. Put a piece of wire fence around her to keep everyone contained and safe.

 

[Lelilamom]

Oh that is a good idea. I have plenty of fencing laying around. Thanks! I'll clean the coop and her nest this morning and I will wait until everyone is hatched and move her then. I have a lovely 6 chicken coop I picked up on craigslist for my broods and their chicks. I'll put them in there after they've been out a day. The 30 chicken coop she's in is just too big and with 30 other chickens, and 5 HUGE turkeys, those chicks will just get trampled and eaten.

 

[Lelilamom]

I cleaned the coop and her nest and found a dead chick, probably developed a little over two weeks. That must have been the crushed egg and the vile smell. She is back on the nest but there is no more pipping and no chicks this morning. We are definitely 24 hours over due now, maybe even more since I marked eggs August 19 that could have been from late on the 18th. I'm thinking we have a lost batch Do I take the eggs away from her?

 

[Ridgerunner]

A few years back I had an egg break under a broody. I tried cleaning the nest and the hen and selected the cleanest eggs to leave with her. None hatched. When one breaks like that the gunk can get in the others and cause bacterial infections. The egg that broke had a very thin shell which I believe contributed to it breaking.

Give the eggs another day, you just never know. Or you can do the float test, put the eggs that have not pipped in a bowl of calm water. If the eggs twitch and move on their own there is a live chick in there, give it back to the hen. If it doesn't move there is no live chick in there at this date.

 

[Fields Mountain Farm]

Just a question... Would that not cause any live chicks to drown?
Just curious... Thanks.

 

[Ridgerunner]

As long as the chick has not pipped and created a hole in the shell, no, the chick will not drown. You don't leave the egg in the water very long, it only takes a few seconds for it to move or not move. It's best to use warm water, somewhere around incubation temperature. That's not just because of a fear of chilling the chick as much as if the egg cools off that will create a vacuum in the egg which can suck water through the porous shell. Not enough to drown the chick but it doesn't need any more water in there.

I consider this test as only a last ditch emergency test just before you toss the eggs. There is no way I would do this just to satisfy my curiosity to see if the eggs have live chick in them before I was really concerned. Don't mess with the eggs any more than you absolutely have to. You do less harm that way.

 

[Fields Mountain Farm]

OK... Thanks for the info.
Still wouldn't candling them be safer?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Also, unless you SAW a rooster "eliminate" the competition... my roos protect the babies and call them to treats. It is always pullets/teens that create problems.

One other hen created so much frantic havoc she had mama hen pecking any and everything in the confusion. That problem hen for babies is no longer in my flock. And I no longer have mysterious chick deaths.

My guess is also the contamination creating lack of hatching. Maybe next time get in the habit of checking the eggs every day or two, maybe kicking the broody off and refreshing if needed.

 

[WVduckchick]

If it doesn't move there is no live chick in there at this date.

Not true! Sorry, but I've seen many people ruin live chicks from a negative float test.