Ready to hatch! When can I move them to a safe spot?

[donnaleedreams]

.....well, we took the egg from the hen and made a little incubator with a heating pad inside the house. 2 hours later and Chick has hatched! Now to see what mama hen does with the other 17 eggs and hopefully we can return this little guy to mama. I'm not ready to raise 18 chicks in the house!!

(next morning) Another chick hatching....this one is still encased in membrane and still peeping and mama's doing nothing to help. (Sigh) I probably just shouldn't be watching.

 

[donnaleedreams]

Some are later....but mainly the blue eggs. My ameraucana kept climbing in on top or her to lay more eggs! LOL in fact I caught her there again this morning! But there are many brown ones that have been there all along. The second chick is in the kitchen with heating pad and membrane moistened, still chirping and struggling. I think she'll make it now. ....BUT Fly larva!!?? The flies were all over the nesting box this morning and I can see tiny worm like things along the membrane! Eating the membrane and blood vessels I hope? And not the chick??? (*mumbles* "I just keep finding stuff to fret about")

 

[donnaleedreams]

Ahhhh, that second little chick is not going to make it. I did hear her peeping early yesterday (couldn't see a crack though?). Finally after lunch time today is when I decided to bring her inside because I saw actual worm (fly larva?) at the edge of the membrane. I tried to peel back just a bit where the larva were, but she wasn't strong, after a few hours of helping just a tiny bit every half hour, I saw that there were many more larva underneath the shell. I got the shell off her quickly then only to find many of them. I soon saw that they had actually eaten a hole in her side and her intestines were coming out. She was still struggling. So sad, so sick. I put her into the freezer for a quicker and humane death....at least I hope it's better to freeze to death than to be eaten alive.

Now I worry for all the eggs. There are many flies outside right now, and if they get to the chicks before they're fully hatched....I'm not sure what I can do.

 

[TheKindaFarmGal]

I never heard of that happening. How do the flies get under the hen? Have you returned the first chick to the hen?

 

[donnaleedreams]

I tired returning it this morning. I think it's still considered an intruder. Hen was pecking it, so I brought it back inside. I was hoping if others hatched, the hen would take care of them and I could slip this one in, but so far, nothing is hatching.

I think I might have the nesting boxes in a bad place. They get afternoon sun. The boxes warm up and that's usually when the two broody hens go out to eat and drink. But that's also when the flies are at their worst. (that last chick might have been deformed already...it never did seem strong. a fly must have laid its eggs after the first hole in the egg was made, and when the hen was off the nest.) These hens don't know they are supposed to stay on the nest these last few days. I'm afraid most of my eggs might be lost. I'll leave them another day or two, but today is day 24 for most of the eggs.

 

[TheKindaFarmGal]

At night put the chick under the hen. She won't see it and in the morning should accept it because it has been there all night.

 

[donnaleedreams]

Update!: 2 more chicks tried to hatch, one dried and shriveled up before it's hatch was complete. I was afraid of the second one doing the same, so I pulled the half hatched egg and brought her inside for support. I put damp warm paper towels surrounding the egg and broke tiny pieces of eggs shell off and began a rip in membrane where it seemed she was having trouble. A few minutes after hatching, I put her back under the hen in the coop. It was already twilight. This morning, there is still a live and now fluffy chick!!!

Four hatches, two died, and two made it with help. I'm pretty sure the hens have eaten some of the eggs....hopefully ones that were not viable. This one hen had 15 eggs to start. She still has about that many, but mostly all NEW eggs! I've seen some remains of shells, none of the eggs under her right now have the penciled in numbers I wrote on the eggs at day 10! My americaunas and another hen keep laying new eggs in with the two broody hens (this could go on forever!)

My goal now, is to move her to the tractor where the chick will be safe. I'd like to move the four chicks in the house in with her if she'll accept them. One is the chick that came from her clutch, and 3 are store bought. They are all under a week old. I'm going to read up and see if I can find ideas on how to do this successfully, but if you have any pointers at all, please share!!!!!

donna

 

[TheKindaFarmGal]

Glad that this chick made it! Sometimes hens will crack and eat eggs that have a small break in them that you might not see. These wouldn't hatch, so hopefully that is what your hens did. Also, sometimes pencil marks rub off. I like to make marks in more than one place just to make sure I'll have something and keep an eye on them to make sure they don't come off.

Like I said earlier, the best way to have a hen accept chicks that aren't hers/she hasn't seen in awhile is to put them under her at night. Try not to let her see or hear them, just quietly put them under her and leave. Come morning she should take care of them as her first chick. Has she left the nest yet? I'm not exactly sure from what you wrote. The tractor should work well for her and the chicks.

Hope all works out for you! Keep me updated, I'd like to know how this ends!

 

[donnaleedreams]

She hasn't left yet. I need to keep a close eye on her today. I want to move her into the tractor, but in there, I won't be able to "quietly slip chicks under her".

I thought letting the hen do all the work was going to be easy! But not if the hen doesn't know what she's doing!

 

[junebuggena]

Update!: 2 more chicks tried to hatch, one dried and shriveled up before it's hatch was complete. I was afraid of the second one doing the same, so I pulled the half hatched egg and brought her inside for support. I put damp warm paper towels surrounding the egg and broke tiny pieces of eggs shell off and began a rip in membrane where it seemed she was having trouble. A few minutes after hatching, I put her back under the hen in the coop. It was already twilight. This morning, there is still a live and now fluffy chick!!!

Four hatches, two died, and two made it with help. I'm pretty sure the hens have eaten some of the eggs....hopefully ones that were not viable. This one hen had 15 eggs to start. She still has about that many, but mostly all NEW eggs! I've seen some remains of shells, none of the eggs under her right now have the penciled in numbers I wrote on the eggs at day 10! My americaunas and another hen keep laying new eggs in with the two broody hens (this could go on forever!)

My goal now, is to move her to the tractor where the chick will be safe. I'd like to move the four chicks in the house in with her if she'll accept them. One is the chick that came from her clutch, and 3 are store bought. They are all under a week old. I'm going to read up and see if I can find ideas on how to do this successfully, but if you have any pointers at all, please share!!!!!

donna

For the hen that always seems to have the same number of eggs, but they are 'new'. If she isn't getting off the nest each morning to eat and drink, she will consume her developing eggs. For that kind of hen, you need to gently pick her up and move her off the nest each morning. Once off the nest, she will eat, drink, poo, and do a bit of preening before heading back to the nest for the rest of the day.
Also, to prevent the other hens from contributing to her clutch, I always put my broodies in a dog kennel or pet carrier inside the coop while they are brooding. I never, ever separate a hen or her chicks from the flock.
For chicks to accept a hen as their mother, and for a hen to accept chicks as her own, the chicks need to be under 72 hours old, and the hen needs to have been broody for over 2 weeks.