OMG an egg actually hatched!

From my plastic crate broody hen. But how long will she protect this baby from the rest of the flock?
Or should I take him up and put him in a brooder?
Do the eggs all hatch on the same day, or should I expect a few more hatchlings?
This is my first hatching sucess.....although I've never tried before, either.
Now what?
Was the broody in with the flock while setting?
I would not put chick in a brooder.
Did you give her all the eggs on the same day....and remove any laid by other birds?
 
I would not remove this chick from the mother. Give it another day or two for the other eggs to hatch.
And @aart asked the question I was going to: were all the eggs set and marked at the same time under her? If other hens added fertile eggs to her clutch, the hatch will be very staggered and that greatly complicates matters.
How many other chickens do you have, are they constantly confined to a run and where did the broody rank before she went broody?
 
Yes. The hen was
Was the broody in with the flock while setting?
I would not put chick in a brooder.
Did you give her all the eggs on the same day....and remove any laid by other birds?
With my others. I have plastic crates underneath my nest boxes and she took up broody residence in one of those crates. I figured it was just a few eggs and let her have her fun. So now one has hatched. How does the little chick get food and water? The chickens drink from buckets with "tapper" nipples on them. I have some month old chicks in a separate brooding pen because they're too young to join the flock yet, but they're too big to put this little guy in with. So I thought about setting up a new brooder for him and any more hatching chicks....
 
I need to qualify that this is a small working farm. I raised Dobermans and I got the chickens so I could have eggs for my dogs. So the chickens have a dedicated stall in the barn for their coop, and it has two very large runs lined with chain link fencing and mesh over the top so they can't get out. My dogs will kill them some kill for sport some kill to eat them so the chickens are kept very well confined to their pens. This particular hen a buff orpington decided to get broody and I figured it was just a few eggs and I let her indulge her nuttiness not expecting the eggs to actually hatch. I do get a small clutch of about 10 checks every year from the feed store to replenish hens that may disappear or become a really fresh raw diet for the dogs. They have a brooder cage separate until they are big enough to go with the regular flock. So this little baby kind of complicates things because he's too small to go in with the new brooding chicks month old, and he's too small to be with the rest of the flock because of the food and water situation, I use buckets with Tapper nipples on them and I'm not sure he would know how to find water. So I figure maybe I should gather him up with any others that may have hatched last night, and just brood a third batch. I also raise Dorper Sheep and I have a horse. It's a busy small farm around here because I am a 62 year old single woman and I drive a school bus, but obviously I have been furloughed for 2 more months. LOL, at least I have plenty of time to devote to my farm right now.
 
Was the broody in with the flock while setting?
I would not put chick in a brooder.
Did you give her all the eggs on the same day....and remove any laid by other birds?
Yes the hen was with the flock and normally these chickens do not go broody. I raise the chickens for eggs for my dogs to have the extra nourishment. But this girl went broody and I decided to let her sit on the eggs because she was so determined. Now yes a second hen, this time a salmon faverolle has decided to go broody in the same plastic crate with the buff orpington. There are 30 other full grown hens that are laying, and a group of 15 one month old pullets that are in a separate cage pen that I will turn out with the others in a few months. This little baby is too small to go in with them. I did not go into this to have Broody hens raising babies so this is new for me in 7 years of raising chickens. I use buckets with Tapper nipples and I'm not sure how the babies get water when they are raised with their mothers. If I set the type of water containers with trays, the older hens and rooster will knock them over and it will be a constant struggle to keep water available for the chicks. That's why I thought it might be easier to put him in any other hatchlings in a new brooder
 
If I set the type of water containers with trays, the older hens and rooster will knock them over and it will be a constant struggle to keep water available for the chicks.
Set up a creep feeder area for the chicks?

I did not go into this to have Broody hens raising babies so this is new for me in 7 years of raising chickens.
You can break broody hens, you know?
 
I'd hate to separate mom and baby. Give her another day or 2 and watch them. She's just waiting. If the rest of the eggs aren't hatching take them up so she can focus on the chick.
She looks like she is all fluffed up and would protect the chick. If she is also doing the broody cluck, the other chickens usually will keep their distance. I would just keep an eye on them and I am sure some more will hatch, just give it a few more days.
 
Set up a creep feeder area for the chicks?

You can break broody hens, you know?
Yes. I know I can keep chasing them out. Usually just take the eggs out from under them with the rest of the gathered eggs. Lol.... I have to creep for the lambs. Yikes. Ok can you send a picture of an easy chick creeper?
 
I use 2x4 welded wire, with bottom row vertical wires squeezed together to enlarge every other opening. Kinda hard to see, hope it makes sense.
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This is how I break my broodies:
If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, best to break her broodiness promptly.
My experience goes about like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest (or as soon as I know they are broody), I put her in a wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop or run with feed and water.

I used to let them out a couple times a day, but now just once a day in the evening(you don't have to) and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two. Or take her out of crate daily very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate.

Chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.
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