New Chick Help

[thekidd76]

I didn't see a broody thread so posting here. Our broody has been sitting on about 11 eggs for 3 weeks. She went broody again when I was out of town and my wife couldn't get the eggs marked so she started with 5, and now has 11. Since she went broody in the favorite nesting box, the other girls laid eggs when she would get up to eat, so we have probably 4-5 that are within a day or 2 of each other, and 6 more that are who knows.

Well when she was off on monday which was day 19 after we noticed she went broody, i caught her off the next and did the count and candled them all. One had pipped, 2 - 3 others looked to be a few days behind, and the rest looked like they weren't developing. This is our fist experience with chicks, and Broody's first successful experience as well so I have a couple questions.

We have a total of 4 hens and a rooster, so my plan is to move Broody and the nest/chicks that hatch over to my isolation coop which shares a side with the run where the other coop opens into. I thought this would help protect the chicks from the rooster, and keep Broody's stress down and focus on the chicks. It will also allow me to keep the rest of the flock on regular feed while providing chick starter to the new ones. The one that was pipped on Monday definitely hatched yesterday. We haven't seen it, but can hear it chirping when Broody moves on the nest. Sorry for the length, but here are my questions:

How long will she stay on the nest now that she's had one hatch?
When do i pull them and move to the other coop?
When do i pull the rest of the eggs and move to an incubator to try to get a few more chicks?
Will she accept new chicks if we get more from the incubator that are slightly younger than the others?
How long do i let her stay on the nest with the new chick before she should try to get it food and water?

 

[azygous]

Did you toss out the eggs you candled that showed no development? If not, do that now.

Your broody may remain on unhatched eggs until they all hatch has been my experience. It's to the detriment of the live chick(s).

Chicks are okay for a couple days without eating or drinking, but by the third day, the broody should be teaching the chicks to eat and drink. If she doesn't remove all unhatched eggs, unless you see pipping, and drag her off the nest.

I begin by dropping some crumbles onto the floor and pecking at them with my finger. The chick(s) should get interested and begin to eat. Also, dip the beaks into the water to get them started.

 

[Shadrach]

I wouldn't move her. I have broodies lay, sit and hatch in their groups coop.
This has lots of advantages later. The chicks integrate into the group early and become accustomed to having senior chickens around.
It is unlikely that the rooster will harm the chicks. I've not had it happen in eight years and I don't know how many hatchings.
Maybe I've been lucky but at worst a hen has continued to sit and try to hatch for 72 hours from the first hatching.
I would not incubate any unhatched eggs and try to introduce them to the mother.
I would put food and water in with mother and chicks now. I provide food and water as soon as the first chick hatches be that in a coop, or out in the open.
For the hen and the chicks, its important that all the chicks hatch within as smaller time frame as possible. This means the range of chick development is relatively equal and each chick has a similar size. This helps ease the competition for food and attention. A chick 3 days older than the youngest will be far better developed.
Jungle fowl and semi feral hens here generally abandon any unhatched eggs after 24 hours for this reason.
I take any eggs that have not hatched up the mountain and leave them for the wildlife.
If your hen has sat once she will probably sit again. In brutal terms, chicks are a dime a dozen and if you've got hens that sit and hatch you will be cursing the instinct before long because you will need to expand your coop and run to accommodate all the newcomers.

 

[thekidd76]

So I will candle and toss the non-developing eggs this afternoon. Anything that looks like it's close or has pipped obviously will stay. I still think I'm going to move them just to keep the coop less crowded and have space for their food and water. I'll do that this afternoon also.

It sounds like incubating the remaining eggs that are days to weeks behind the others won't be a good idea unless i plan to raise those chicks myself, and add to the flock when older.

 

[thekidd76]

In brutal terms, chicks are a dime a dozen and if you've got hens that sit and hatch you will be cursing the instinct before long because you will need to expand your coop and run to accommodate all the newcomers.

So being new to this, she went broody last year around July, we had no rooster at the time, and the fertilized eggs i gave her to sit on ended up not being fertilized. She didn't go broody again until 3 weeks ago, so I guess that's my question. If she's got this broody instinct, is it going to happen often? I guess I was assuming she would only go broody once a year, but i'm sure that was just wishful thinking.

 

[azygous]

There are broody-prone hens that will have broody cycles up to four per season. I had such a broody, and she was very predictable, going broody after laying an exact number of eggs. It made it very easy to plan for hatching fertilized eggs. Knowing almost to the day when she would be ready to sit on eggs again, I would begin selecting eggs around a week before she would begin sitting.

 

[Shadrach]

So being new to this, she went broody last year around July, we had no rooster at the time, and the fertilized eggs i gave her to sit on ended up not being fertilized. She didn't go broody again until 3 weeks ago, so I guess that's my question. If she's got this broody instinct, is it going to happen often? I guess I was assuming she would only go broody once a year, but i'm sure that was just wishful thinking.

I don't think there is a hard and fast rule for broodiness. As @azygous notes above, some hens are reasonably predictable once you've observed a pattern of behavior.
It also depends on your management system. I'm not a daily egg collector. I free range and some of the hens make nests way from the coops and while I try to keep an eye on who is laying where, sometimes it takes me quite a while to find the nests.
I have found that if I don't disturb a pile of accumulating eggs, eventually (8 to 10 eggs seems to be the favorite range) a hen will sit on them. When I have regularly removed eggs the rate of broodiness declines. This suggests that the sight of a nice pile of unattended eggs may be a factor in promoting broodiness.
The only hens here now that don't go broody are the two who have never laid an egg and it looks like this year, the eldest surviving hen who is around nine years old.

 

[thekidd76]

So Broody and 4 chicks were moved successfully yesterday into their temporary home. So we left them alone in the coop for the last 24 hours. Today it was getting a bit warm so i opened up the coop door to let some air in and she quickly jumped down and scratched around a bit. All the chicks stayed huddled together in the coop waiting for her to return.

My question is am I ok to leave the door open? Do i need to be concerned about a chick falling off the ramp and hurting itself? My guess is that she'll take care of them but just checking. The door is probably 20" off the ground, soft landing if they fall also. I haven't seen any sign of them drinking or eating yet much either, so hopefully she'll do what she needs to to teach them to eat and drink. Thoughts?