Premature Chicks Dying!

[KyKyMarie77]

Hello! I have a broody hen that is hatching eggs right now, but she seems to be cracking the eggs to early! We were gone on vacation for a little over a week so she collected everyones eggs over that time. she is hatching the leghorns babies right now and has about 12 of them. They are alive in the eggs but at different levels, and I'm worried shes going to keep cracking them early! So far 3 have died from underdevelopment, and 2 are alive but premature compared to the others. I dont know what to do!

EDIT: out of the one that have died, one was over a week premature, I'm not sure if it died in its egg or what happened, but the mom cracked her open and when I went in there it wasnt alive. The other one hatched and survived for a few minutes, but couldn't move or lift its head and died within a few minutes it was also a lot smaller, and the last one the mom also busted open, but it looked several days to early and was dead when I went out there. I check every hour during the day so far, and she had busted the eggs open and they were dead by the time I got in there, although it seems like they were already dead in their eggs. I believe that she didn't get them turned enough do to where she layed/gathered them.

 

[JaeG]

Some hens like to sit on eggs, but don't know what to do with live chicks. Some will kill them. I have a Wyandotte Bantam like that - she loves to be broody but she does not want to be a mother and will kill chicks.

Do you have an incubator you could hatch the remaining eggs in? It might be safest to raise them yourself under a heat lamp/heat plate.

 

[KyKyMarie77]

Some hens like to sit on eggs, but don't know what to do with live chicks. Some will kill them. I have a Wyandotte Bantam like that - she loves to be broody but she does not want to be a mother and will kill chicks.

Do you have an incubator you could hatch the remaining eggs in? It might be safest to raise them yourself under a heat lamp/heat plate.

She has already raised a batch and is an extremely good mother so I don't believe thats the issue, she actually lets her baby she hatched last time lay on her while shes laying on the eggs. I do not have an incubator, but I do have another broody hen laying on eggs, so I'm thinking about moving the other 2 eggs I know for sure are alive over to her until they hatch. Will that make her stop laying on her eggs she has now though?

 

[HeatherKellyB]

Even if she's a trusted mama, something may have stressed her which is causing this. I wouldn't leave the eggs, especially if SHE is cracking them. She shouldn't be cracking the eggs. I wouldn't hold this against her in the future, but I would keep this behavior in mind. This may be a one time thing. I wish you, your hen and the chicks the very best.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

@JaeG if she moves the remaining viable eggs to another broody, will that cause any problems? I know that some hens will accept any and everything. Some are finicky and little things set them off. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have an incubator.

 

[KyKyMarie77]

Even if she's a trusted mama, something may have stressed her which is causing this. I wouldn't leave the eggs, especially if SHE is cracking them. She shouldn't be cracking the eggs. I wouldn't hold this against her in the future, but I would keep this behavior in mind. This may be a one time thing. I wish you, your hen and the chicks the very best.

I think because they are over a longer period of time of her collecting them that she's starting to get stressed that they haven't hatched yet, and is cracking them to help hatch. tomorrow I'm going to slip them under the other hen and wait a few days to hatch and then put them back with her. Thank you for your well wishes!

 

[KyKyMarie77]

@JaeG if she moves the remaining viable eggs to another broody, will that cause any problems? I know that some hens will accept any and everything. Some are finicky and little things set them off. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have an incubator.

^

 

[JaeG]

She has already raised a batch and is an extremely good mother so I don't believe thats the issue, she actually lets her baby she hatched last time lay on her while shes laying on the eggs. I do not have an incubator, but I do have another broody hen laying on eggs, so I'm thinking about moving the other 2 eggs I know for sure are alive over to her until they hatch. Will that make her stop laying on her eggs she has now though?

I would try your second broody.

If you leave them with your second broody it would take a few days for your first girl to realise that there's nothing alive under her anymore and then she would get off the nest and return to normal. You'd need to keep the second broody and babies completely separated though as hens can fight over chicks. Also, if the chicks are still around then your first hen won't snap out of being broody if that's what you'd like to happen.

How long has your second broody been sitting? If it's at least 10 days then there's a good chance she'll accept the chicks as they hatch. But if you want to give the chicks back to the first girl then I'd give that a go as well, just do it as soon after they hatch as you can and watch that they don't fight over the chicks.

All you can do is try. Hopefully it'll all work out.

Do let us know how you get on. It's so hard to know what's going on in the minds of our chickens sometimes!

 

[KyKyMarie77]

I would try your second broody.

If you leave them with your second broody it would take a few days for your first girl to realise that there's nothing alive under her anymore and then she would get off the nest and return to normal. You'd need to keep the second broody and babies completely separated though as hens can fight over chicks. Also, if the chicks are still around then your first hen won't snap out of being broody if that's what you'd like to happen.

How long has your second broody been sitting? If it's at least 10 days then there's a good chance she'll accept the chicks as they hatch. But if you want to give the chicks back to the first girl then I'd give that a go as well, just do it as soon after they hatch as you can and watch that they don't fight over the chicks.

All you can do is try. Hopefully it'll all work out.

Do let us know how you get on. It's so hard to know what's going on in the minds of our chickens sometimes!

It’s been exaclty 10 days so I’ll go ahead and try it. I don’t want to break the one from being broody, I just want her to stop breaking the eggs this round. As soon as they are pipped and close to hatching out fully I’m going to move them to the og mama thay wait the Second broody doesn’t get attached since she’s a first time mom I’m not really sure how she’s gonna do.

 

[KyKyMarie77]

Update: the two chicks born yesterday are still alive, but they aren’t looking too good. The first one I’m not sure if she’s blind or what but she won’t open her eyes. She also is a mess on her naval and I’m not sure what to do about that. The second one does seem better, Even in the egg it had its eyes wide open, and it’s been tryign to walk around, but they are both still premature #1 more so, and I don’t know how long I should just let them sleep before they need to get some food. These are them, as you can see they just lay flat while the others are running around and all that, they can barely walk. I put a towel down over half of the enclosure so they can get a better grip, and that did seem to help, but they are still pretty weak. In the photo of them #1 is on the right and #2 is on the left with the mark on her head.