MY 1st Time w/BroodieHen SITTING~26+Days?

[1234duck]

Buttercup/Broodie Hen has been sitting on her eggs, Hatch Day was Tuesday 5/3. (1)chick born Thursday5/5 }}Put in Brooder because chick kept crying & it was(for a while) away from the nest. The mom went down to a different nest w/o her baby so we put Baby Back IN IT'S Nest Where All the Other Eggs Are WAITING to be HATCHED. Hoping the Hen was coming back to finish the Hatch. Baby got out of nest again, kept crying so we decided to put baby in Brooder. Now after 1/2 the day is gone the Hen went back to sit on the eggs. ~LATER THE NEXT DAY 5/6 Friday... (2nd)Chick is born. I put food & water out for baby. Baby been fairly quiet & I can hear mom doing something to eggs (same as what I'd hear the past days) On another day the hen got off the nest for a minute and played in the dirt? huh? lol { I THINK THERE IS A BAD EGG IN NEST, SOMETIMES THERE'S A VERY BAD SMELL.} ~EARLIER Today the Hen(mom) was Out of her nest & sitting some where else, while baby was still up by it's nest. When i peeked in I Can see More Eggs. I was thinking about getting the eggs from her nest but then the dumb hen was back again IN Her Nest... ANY SUGGESTIONS ON WHAT TO DO? ~ its approx 3 days since the second chick was born. My other concern is 3 duck eggs still in bator since 5/5 Thursday they are active still & from a hatch on 5/4 Wednesday, ducklings (7)born and mom still wasn't back to finish hatching by 5/5 so candled them & put in bator. Still moving but no pips...Sooo even if i needed to put chicken eggs in bator to finish the hatch i guess i couldn't.? What should i do about the chicken eggs? PLEASE Thanks, ~Julie~

 

[Barrdwing]

Oh boy, this is a tough call! Generally, what triggers a hen to get off the nest and forget about her remaining eggs is the presence of a hungry chick yelling for breakfast. Chicks usually start demanding food on the morning of their third day after hatch. If the chicks have been removed, she may just stick with her eggs, thinking that she has no chicks yet. Since it's been 3 days since the second chick, if all the eggs were set at the same time, then the remainder are probably not viable. You can pull the eggs a few at a time at night, and candle them to see what's going on. There are some really good candling images over on the Incubating Eggs page, on a sticky at the top of the page. In a situation like yours, I would be very curious to see if there is an egg that looks gooey inside (pitch that bad boy!). But certainly, the remaining eggs have had quite a lot of time, and it is getting less and less likely that any more will hatch. At some point fairly soon, you'll have to call it, and remove the eggs (at night) and give her the two chicks. Hopefully she will then take to them.

Of course, if some of the eggs went in later than the rest, then all of the above is hogwash and there could be eggs that are planning to hatch, but are just not as far along as the rest.

 

[BANTAMWYANDOTTE]

Quote:
Very good advice!