Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[LisaLouHoo]

Hi there we were having a really good hatch 6 had hatched 2 was hatchibg and 3 yet to start, this morning 1 little chick was outside the nest dead and one had died halfway out of the shell

the 3 eggs haven't started yet and it's day 23 for them? I'm not sure what to do now because I have two broodies ones eggs have all hatched so she's keen to get out of the small coop they're in?? Will the other hen keep sitting on the other eggs?? Or has the hatching finished? thanks

I just finished my very first hatch, so I'm no expert, but I would suggest moving the broody who has completed her hatch moved to another area. Let the other broody who is still sitting to give it a little more time. Is she taking care of her hatched chicks? If not, maybe you can move her chicks to your other broody to care for. Is it possible that the completed broody killed the little chick? I've read that two broodies will compete and if that's your case, you might want to slip the chicks under her at dark, so she doesn't realize it.

 

[chickydee64]

Hi there we were having a really good hatch 6 had hatched 2 was hatchibg and 3 yet to start, this morning 1 little chick was outside the nest dead and one had died halfway out of the shell

the 3 eggs haven't started yet and it's day 23 for them? I'm not sure what to do now because I have two broodies ones eggs have all hatched so she's keen to get out of the small coop they're in?? Will the other hen keep sitting on the other eggs?? Or has the hatching finished? thanks

She should continue to set, hope her eggs are good...............

 

[jojosthings]

[COLOR=008080]She should continue to set, hope her eggs are good...............[/COLOR]

she's still sitting tight so that's good

she'd rolled one egg out and when I candeled it it had a very sloshy underdeveloped chick in it! One of the others has pipped so that's good... Fingers crossed for the other.

I don't know what happened all was going like a dream and then everything went a bit wrong!!?! I've got five from 10 so far after the 3 have died so hoping the other 2 make it??!

 

[kpchick]

Hi y'all, we are such newbies to this, our exploits will make you lol...
Weird story here! Our Lavender Ameracauna hen (born in February) started acting Very weird about 3 weeks ago. We found no more blue eggs in the nest box and she just disappeared; we were sure a hawk got her.i was just heartbroken, she was such a sweetie, loved to lap sit! Then she comes strolling out of the brush (our 8 all free range during the day) and after a search we found 19(!) eggs on a ground nest. -- guess the other Ameracauna was helping her! SO we moved all 19 eggs to a nesting box. At first she kept going back to the ground nest site so we shut her in for a day (thanks to info from BYC) . Now she is sitting all 19!!!! She is such a fabulous mama
I am assuming since they were obviously laid days apart that we'll have a staggered hatch. We ordered a candler from Amazon and looked at the eggs and a few have FEET!!!! Wow! Well, my concerns are whether she just will sit on them til the last one hatches or do I move them.. Ack!!!
I'm really happy with just a few mutt chicks (Daddy is a Delaware roo) DH is building an add-on to the coop so we can separate her from the other 7 girls but this is so scary -- what if she manages to hatch 8-10 (gulp) or more? How can she take care of the babies while shie is brooding? Should I take some of them away? Will the others hurt her chicks ? This is so overwhelming and I've been reading a lot here but confused. Help! Has this ever happened to anyone else? I'll post pics when I can figure out how!

 

[chickydee64]

Hi y'all, we are such newbies to this, our exploits will make you lol...
Weird story here! Our Lavender Ameracauna hen (born in February) started acting Very weird about 3 weeks ago. We found no more blue eggs in the nest box and she just disappeared; we were sure a hawk got her.i was just heartbroken, she was such a sweetie, loved to lap sit! Then she comes strolling out of the brush (our 8 all free range during the day) and after a search we found 19(!) eggs on a ground nest. -- guess the other Ameracauna was helping her! SO we moved all 19 eggs to a nesting box. At first she kept going back to the ground nest site so we shut her in for a day (thanks to info from BYC) . Now she is sitting all 19!!!! She is such a fabulous mama
I am assuming since they were obviously laid days apart that we'll have a staggered hatch. We ordered a candler from Amazon and looked at the eggs and a few have FEET!!!! Wow! Well, my concerns are whether she just will sit on them til the last one hatches or do I move them.. Ack!!!
I'm really happy with just a few mutt chicks (Daddy is a Delaware roo) DH is building an add-on to the coop so we can separate her from the other 7 girls but this is so scary -- what if she manages to hatch 8-10 (gulp) or more? How can she take care of the babies while shie is brooding? Should I take some of them away? Will the others hurt her chicks ? This is so overwhelming and I've been reading a lot here but confused. Help! Has this ever happened to anyone else? I'll post pics when I can figure out how!

How sweet...........happened to us last year but we did not find the hen until she showed up at the barn with 18 chicks..lol
Likely, she will quit setting when she feels her attention needs to be taking care of the hatched chicks......She will do fine with 8 or 10 chicks .
If she can cover 19 eggs, she will be able to cover 19 chicks.....

These hens are so much smarter than we are..........

My suggestion if you had an incubator would be to finish the last ones yourself........
Otherwise, just trust her judgment she will show you what is going on........You may have already read that the chicks do not need food or water for the first two or three days.this allows the hen to finish with the ones still hatching. .Some of my hens have started raising their chicks and still
stayed close to the nest to set it??????????As I said, just try to trust her, she'll do fine.
OH, and

 

[kpchick]

Smile, smile. My DH says their brain is the size of a pencil eraser, ha! But I guess Nature is amazing, huh? Thanks so much for your input.

 

[elsfieldchickens]

nice chicks everyone!

 

[jojosthings]

here's the end of our broody hen story

unfortunately the last 2 didn't make it out the shell due to egg stealing and leaving the nest to steal chicks from each other! But you live and learn! I'll never sit two broodies side by side again

they're orps of various colours very pleased with them!

 

[bumpercarr]

here's the end of our broody hen story

unfortunately the last 2 didn't make it out the shell due to egg stealing and leaving the nest to steal chicks from each other! But you live and learn! I'll never sit two broodies side by side again

they're orps of various colours very pleased with them!

I had the same problem with my last hatch. I'd never had two broodies before, but you live and learn. I think I ended up with such a horrible hatch rate because of the stealing going on. Now I know to separate them.

 

[jojosthings]

I had the same problem with my last hatch. I'd never had two broodies before, but you live and learn. I think I ended up with such a horrible hatch rate because of the stealing going on. Now I know to separate them.

yeah I've totally learned my lesson! they were doing great till the eggs started cheeping then they got all confused and distracted by each others eggs! I'm more frustrated than upset because they were all live and had come so far to end up with so many losses for silly reasons is a gutter!!