Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[aaggjg]

I am going to eat CROW!!!! Unless my eyes are deceiving me I think I see a pip in one of my 2 abandoned eggs!!!! OMG, OMG, OMG!!!!! Of course I put them on the floor of the bator as I was convinced they were dead and the pip is on the far bottom side.... So its either a pip or some splash Marans fluff!!!

Pip!

 

[Miss Lydia]

I am going to eat CROW!!!! Unless my eyes are deceiving me I think I see a pip in one of my 2 abandoned eggs!!!! OMG, OMG, OMG!!!!! Of course I put them on the floor of the bator as I was convinced they were dead and the pip is on the far bottom side.... So its either a pip or some splash Marans fluff!!!

Pip!

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have a broody Buff that will love some eggs to hatch, I plan to get a dozen Black Jersey eggs. I have a new coop that I built and plan to start some ranger chicks I ordered. I just wonder if she will sit on the eggs or if she will go nuts wanting to brood the day old chicks. I plan to put broody in the new coop next week and give her some fake eggs to brood I am sure she will do it, she has been on the nest for more than a month and bites me when I try to pull eggs. Am I feeding Broody the medicated food like the chicks, or do I stand a chance of getting her outside of the nest to eat.

Miss Lydia I hope your snake problem is gone. I used to see a small gardner snake in my egg coop but I could never get it before it dove into the hay. Never saw it again so I think someone had a good dinner.

I bet she would accept those chicks if she has been sitting so long she'll think she hatched them if you go in at night fall with chick in your hand with hand ontop of chick and slip them under and remove fake eggs. Are the chicks day olds?

 

[Miss Lydia]

The adoption seems to have worked. Yesterday I gave the hen some more water and she drank well and did not bite me once, the chicks drank also, I sprinkled additional chick starter along the edge of the nest and the hen ate as well,however she did peck at the chicks a few times, they did not scream or act hurt, I think she wanted them to hide from the monster (me) ..this am I could hear happy peeps and cooing that stopped as soon as I looked in with mama glaring at me..still have some clean water and food...OK bye. It seems she has alot to teach these little ones, well, better her than me!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Well both of you were right... I had a 50-50 success rate

I ran down to check on Popcorn this morning and she was sitting tight as every ... I couldn't hear anything and tried to push her and saw an egg.... so I lifted her a bit and saw the silkie egg I had put under her not hatched. I picked it up and it was dead .... Hole big enough to see the beak as it was when I put it under her last night.....

So I pushed her again to reveal a lovely splash marans chick. I am so sad and feel like I have turned into a chick murderer

..... I am really happy to see that splash so I guess I will add a few more chicks to Popcorn and not risk the pip situation again. I can't figure out what went wrong with that chick.... It did not look to be shrink wrapped so I'm not really sure why it died. Oh well lesson learned ......

Aww I'm so sorry. You can blame it on me I'm the one who encouraged you to try a pipped egg.

YOU are NOT a chicken murderer.

 

[bobbieschicks]

Well both of you were right... I had a 50-50 success rate I ran down to check on Popcorn this morning and she was sitting tight as every ... I couldn't hear anything and tried to push her and saw an egg.... so I lifted her a bit and saw the silkie egg I had put under her not hatched. I picked it up and it was dead .... Hole big enough to see the beak as it was when I put it under her last night.....

So I pushed her again to reveal a lovely splash marans chick. I am so sad and feel like I have turned into a chick murderer

..... I am really happy to see that splash so I guess I will add a few more chicks to Popcorn and not risk the pip situation again. I can't figure out what went wrong with that chick.... It did not look to be shrink wrapped so I'm not really sure why it died. Oh well lesson learned ......

Congrats on your new maran chcick. Sorry about the silkie. Chicks die at hatch time in the bator too. Silkies are very fragile. It could have had a health issue that caused it not to hatch. I wouldn't assume it was from moving it to the nest.

 

[bobbieschicks]

I've got a question about broody hatches. My little Violet has a porcelain silkie under her this morning, and the other two have not yet pipped. When I picked up the eggs she had watched the hen lay the porcelain silkie, and I'm guessing she stored the other two somehow. Could the reason the other two are a little behind be because of that? I looked at them at day 18 and they looked like they needed another day or so inside the shell. Today is day 20 now

Just leave them until around day 26. It could be cold that caused them to be behind. I've had hatches that took 3 days. The first guy was out on day 19 and the others came out over the next two days. That was in the bator. So under a broody can mean you need more time if she gathered more eggs once she started sitting on the nest.

 

[bobbieschicks]

I am going to eat CROW!!!! Unless my eyes are deceiving me I think I see a pip in one of my 2 abandoned eggs!!!!  OMG, OMG, OMG!!!!! Of course I put them on the floor of the bator as I was convinced they were dead and the pip is on the far bottom side.... So its either a pip or some splash Marans fluff!!!    Pip!

Yeah! Hope so!

 

[artsyrobin]

it does happen guys- sometimes there is something wrong and they just don't make it, i had a little faverolle babe with crossbeak- lost him after 2 weeks, i really learned- sometimes it just isn't meant to be- and other times, you can 'help' a hatching- not take all the shell, but gently crack a little after it begins pipping if it is getting weak- i learned this after helping lucky with mouth to beak- he is healthy and all over the place, but the next one that pipped at the small end, i just barely added to the effort, once he got going, about a quarter inch and then let him at it
this is the saga of Lucky- he was in the bator, and pipped early, put him under mama she promptly crushed the shell, so after letting him go awhile i thought he was dying and helped him, thought he was dead, gave him beak to mouth, and put him in the bator in an egg section, here are some photos

 

[B J Hopkins]

it does happen guys- sometimes there is something wrong and they just don't make it, i had a little faverolle babe with crossbeak- lost him after 2 weeks, i really learned- sometimes it just isn't meant to be- and other times, you can 'help' a hatching- not take all the shell, but gently crack a little after it begins pipping if it is getting weak- i learned this after helping lucky with mouth to beak- he is healthy and all over the place, but the next one that pipped at the small end, i just barely added to the effort, once he got going, about a quarter inch and then let him at it
this is the saga of Lucky- he was in the bator, and pipped early, put him under mama she promptly crushed the shell, so after letting him go awhile i thought he was dying and helped him, thought he was dead, gave him beak to mouth, and put him in the bator in an egg section, here are some photos


I had one just like that earlier this month! The egg was under a broodie. Three of her chicks hatched, one appeared to have been smothered. One egg looked like yours, all crackled but cold, very cold and alive. I took it in to the incubator cause Momma hen left the nest w/her two active babies. I ended up having to pull away the shell on top and the membrane as the chick was becoming shrink wrapped. It continued curled up like your egg shows. I dropped water on it as it was really dried out, poor thing drank the water greedily. After awhile I simply took the rest of the shell off. It remained in a fetal position at which time I went to bed. In the morning it was sitting up, dry with a lot of dry gunk on it. Gave it a warm bath, dried off w/a blow dryer and it's a thriving chick w/it's surrogate mom. (real Mom refused to accept him/her). Oddly enough, this chick is actually bigger than it's hatch mates! That was the 4th of May.