Question about a Broody Hen's eggs. Please Help!

[cochins1088]

I have a broody hen on a few eggs that is separted from the rest. I have hatched chicks from an incubator many times, but I have never had a broody hen suceed because I have never separted them before and the girls fight over who gets to be mother and end up cracking their eggs. Well anyways I am so close, I candled again tonight and one has externally pipped and is peeping, another has internally pipped. My problem is with the rest. There are 8 eggs total. 4 of the others look like they are on about day 16ish. And then the last 2 are even more behind. One looking like it's on day 4 or 5. She must have laid more while on her eggs as I took out the duds. I'm worried that when these first 2 hatch, she'll forget about the other eggs that are developing nicely. Any advice? They are moving around and look so great, I would hate for them to die and I can't get the incubator going at the moment.

Thanks,

 

[Judy]

When she decides it's time to take her new chicks out and teach them where the food is, etc., she will indeed abandon the rest. She will keep the new chicks under her a lot of the time at first, though, and this might be enough to hatch out some more. Perhaps some are farther along than you believe -- hopefully so, anyway. Perhaps some stopped developing. Broodies do not normally lay at all while they are setting. I would just leave her alone and see how it comes out.

 

[cochins1088]

Thanks, I guess I'll just have to play it out, maybe slip them with another hen when she abandons them. Cochins seem to go broody just about anytime. But they are all developing and moving around. And I'm pretty sure on the ages... lets hope she'll hold out for the next 5 days, I guess I could lose the younger 2. Should I leave her spearated to try to encourage her to continue hatching. Right now she is in a large dog crate thats about 3 by 4 feet. Enough room to eat, drink, and stretch when needed, but it's small enough to keep her focused on her eggs. I planned to put her in a 6 by 8 foot area when she hatched the chicks, but maybe I should hold out since many aren't hatched yet.

 

[Eggcessive]

I am a newbie (1 and 1/2 years), but I'll offer my two cents. After the first whole day, I would make sure the chicks are drinking by dipping their beaks into water, and know where the food is. She won't be showing them since she is on eggs. The second day I would remove any eggs left and give them to another broody since she may ignore the chicks. The problem with later hatching eggs is that the chicks can get out and get pecked to death by the other chickens if Mom isn't watching them. I lost several chicks this summer because I didn't realize they had hatched, or that they escaped a dog cage from the mother. The third day or whenever the broody is ready they need to be able to leave the cage to set out showing the chicks what to do.

 

[cochins1088]

I plan to close everything up tight, the chicks won't be able to get out and the cage is in the lay loft away from the other chickens. There is food and water there at ground level for the hen and her chicks. Cochins go broody easily, though I go through great measures to stop them because in the spring, all 17 of the nesting boxes for the 21 hens are full and they will not leave. We need the eggs, and my parents would kill me if I kept hatching chicks. So there is no garuntee that I can get one broody today... I think I may keep her in the cage cause I really don't want to lose those 4 eggs, I understand the other 2 have no hope. But if I keep her in the small area with her chicks with acess to food and water, I'm thinking that I can get away with it... are there any other problems with this rather than chick's getting out.