Pipping Now under broody! Panic! PICS!

[chickie_mama]

Quote:
Ditto what CityGirl says!!!! Mama Hen get awfully mad if you keep raising her up... I mean, that's what I hear...er...a "friend" told me so!

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

My experience has been that the hen will sit there until you take the eggs away. At least mine always have. I give them until day 23 and then take the remaining eggs. She will patiently sit while the other babies use her as a jungle gym. Once those eggs vanish she is up and moving around with them.
If it helps, I have silkies and they are very determined broodies. Dunno if that plays into it or not.

Have fun! You know we will need pictures...

 

[CritterHill]

So. Amazingly. Hard. To leave her alone!

I set up a large dog crate in the coop with a cardboard nestbox in it and some food and water. I would really hate for her to get mad and give up the hatch at this point because I moved her, so I will leave her be until someone hatches under the assumption that she might leave a nest of eggs, but if there are peepers there calling her, she will probably stay with them (and hey, at that point I just stuff them in the brooder anyway, so no loss).

So I'll wait for at least one to hatch before moving her , baby, and remaining eggs to the dog crate.

The nest box she is in now is a foot off the ground so I am afraid of babies nose diving out of it!

Oh, and she is a Polish, so I am amazed she made it to day 21 at all!

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

I'm not sure my polish could sit still that long. She's a little on the ADD side.

The favored nest boxes at my house are also a foot or so off the ground. In the past I have moved hen and eggs down to floor level to the crate before hatching. The last one I moved in the house on the night of hatch. Temps were supposed to drop to the single digits that night and I didn't want little frozen chicksicles. Mama hen growled at me, but then settled right back down on the eggs.
If you already have some pipped, I would wait until they hatch out. Is there anyway to block the nest to keep them in? My last hatch I had one fall out of the coop and not be able to get back in. Mama was still sitting and wouldn't leave the nest to go get her. She got chilled and ended up dying the next day. Poor baby. See if you can block them in.

I also kept mine locked in the dog crate for a couple of days (with food and water in there of course). It gives mama a couple of days before she has to fend off the other chickens. Plus the babies are stronger and better able to move around. They get zippy pretty quickly! Other than the one I lost to cold, they have all done remarkably well.

Good luck! Polish babies are adorable!

 

[CritterHill]

I've been debating. To move or not to move? There is quite a lip on the nest box. I may move her once I get back from food shopping this evening.

To clear the breed confusion up. The Momma is a Polish, the eggs are not hers, they are from buckbeak and they are silkie, EE, Welsummer Mutts. The bantam silkie-mutt egg is the one pipping so far.

Thanks! I'm off food shopping so I don't mess with her too much. I probably will move her once I get back so the babies don't take a dive. Or maybe just lug my sleeping bag out and sleep out there with her.

(kidding) (sortof)

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Okay, now I really want pictures! I've been considering some welsummer and silkie mutts.
good luck... just think, tomorrow you'll have babies!

 

[FisherMOM]

I would not move her until they are all hatched. I waited to move mine once the babies were here. She won't leave those eggs.

 

[CritterHill]

Alright, alright I will wait til morning to move her! There is actually a 2 inch lip on the nest box, so I don't think a day old could get over it.

I'll update this thread with pics if it all works out.

 

[dancingbear]

The babies don't usually get very active until they're about 24 hours old. There are exceptions, but that's the norm.

Mom seldom leaves the nest once they start hatching, until 24 to 48 hours after the first ones hatch. Sometimes they stay longer.

Moving mom around increases the chance she'll leave the nest early, from being disturbed. Some hens will let you move them, but some won't. I have a couple that will freak out and run back to the original nest. Even if the eggs are gone, some will insist that "this is the only possible nest!!!!!" So moving mom right as the eggs are starting to hatch may not be the best move. It may also incrrease the risk of squashed chicks.

Trust the hen to have the instinct to hatch the chicks. Once in a while one may not be great at this, but most are.

 

[CritterHill]

WE HAVE A CHICK! And 4 eggs with no pips, I'll let them go a little longer. Move Momma later today. I'll get pics when I move her to the dog crate.