Please help, not sure what to do about this broody and her 1 chick

[imaturtlefan]

I have this great little bantam cochin silkie crosses that are wonderful incubators. I had one sitting on eggs, and the day before they should have hatched, I went down to the coop to feed/water and I found the eggs all over the place, scattered, and her not on them... none broken, and it was so close to when they should be hatching. I put them under another broody, but they were cold. The other broody took them, and the next day 2 hatched, 1 died, it was born with a bloody sac on its belly. I left the rest of the eggs just in case for a few days, but it became clear they werent going to hatch, or I think anyway. So I took them, and the momma hen threw a fit, got up and went to another nest box, shes not talking to her 1 baby, but lets it sit under her, shes not trying to feed it, or showing it food and water like my other hens have. I dont want to take it, its the only one, it would be alone.

 

[crazygoatlady915]

Hmmm. That's some pretty weird chicken behavior! Has this hen successfully hatched and raised chicks before? Maybe she's having some first-time troubles? Well, if she's not taking care of it, it will die, so I think your best course of action is to try to put the chick under another hen, maybe go to TSC and pick up a new chick or two to go under her as well?
I've never had this happen before, keep us updated!

 

[imaturtlefan]

Well, nobody around has chicks, all the TSC and small feed stores are out, and the people on craigslist all have older chicks...so, I just put food and water right by the nest box and left the momma and chick alone. I checked later and the momma started to talk to the chick a little, it started eating some, but I still had not seen it drink, so I got it to start that.

Later in the afternoon, I heard the momma squawking, and she was outside the coop, the baby was in the nestbox still, but with another hen, so I put them both in a rabbit hutch, and put a wooden nest box in there, made sure the baby had eaten and stuff, and then covered them with a dark towel the rest of the day, the mom settled down with the baby under her pretty quick.

This morning, I went back out, took the towel off, and the momma is talking to her chick, its wandering around eating and drinking, and the hen is staying close. The chick is now 3 days old...I think they will be ok. The mom was just confused, and was a first timer, so I had to help her along, but I will keep my eye on them.