Should I take the eggs away from the hen?

[tlcchickens]

I'm still a newbie... I've had my little flock for several months. I have two hens who I think are going to go broody often. I've broken them twice each because we didn't have room for more chickens (even though I WANTED MORE!

) We finally finished a bigger coop just as a hen went broody yet again! It was perfect timing, so we let her sit on a clutch of eggs.

Well, 3 weeks later... we have a single baby chick. Of course, it's the cutest thing I've ever seen in my whole entire life. It hatched 3 days ago, and the hen is still sitting on the rest of the eggs. No more chicks have appeared. I have been checking on them daily, but no more than once a day because the hen seems to get agitated when I'm nearby. Since the chick hatched, I've been putting a small dish of food right in front of the hen so that she'll peck at it, which prompts the little guy to come out from under her wing and eat. Since she's still sitting on the other eggs, I don't think she or the chick are eating other than when I put food right there in the nest box. Maybe I'm wrong...

Anyway, I'm not sure when or if I should take away the other 4 eggs. How long will she keep sitting on them after a chick has hatched? Will she eventually give up and leave the nest? Should I be feeding her and the chick the way I am or wait for her to take the chick to the food?

Thanks in advance.

 

[GitaBooks]

Congrats on the chick!

I would suggest you take the other four eggs away and either carefully open them or try candling them. They are likely dead, though it doesn't hurt to check. Where did you get the eggs?
Showing her the food is good, as she still thinks her other eggs are going to hatch and may let her chick go hungry otherwise. She certainly will get hungry. Make sure she is getting water too.

I had five eggs under a broody and only got one chick also. I named him Buddy because he sticks to her like her best friend. She is very protective of him.

Best of luck!

 

[tlcchickens]

To answer the question of where I got the eggs--they were all laid by my 3 hens within a few days of each other. The broody gathered them herself.

 

[CherriesBrood]

To answer the question of where I got the eggs--they were all laid by my 3 hens within a few days of each other. The broody gathered them herself. 

That makes perfect sense! Some are probably different ages than others are, and probably still have more time to cook. I'd candle them, look for a blood ring around the whole egg inside of it, if you don't see that than its more than likely it's alive, put them back under her, and make sure she stays on the nest. Keep giving her and her chick food AND water, new chicks can only last 48 hours after hatching without food or water. Hope everything goes well, if you need any help with anything I'll be happy to help.

 

[tlcchickens]

Update!

I went out last night after dark to take the other 4 eggs. I only found 3... But she was waking up and getting upset with me, so I took the 3 and figured I'd get the 4th later. I float tested the 3, and all sank. This morning, I took my class of preschoolers out to see the baby chick. I didn't take them yesterday because I wanted to bother her as little as possible while I was hoping more eggs would hatch. To my surprise, there was a second chick this morning! The crazy thing is that the chicks couldn't look more different. One is yellow, and the other is black. I only have 1 rooster, and all of my hens look exactly alike. They're all mutts, though, so I guess one chick got some recessive traits! Yay for new chicks!

 

[CherriesBrood]

Wow that's awesome! Congrats! XD would you be willing to post some pictures of the newbies?

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Remember that DNA is not an either or proposition. While most modern humans have anywhere from 1% to 3% Neanderthal DNA, the total amount of Neanderthal DNA in the modern human genome is in excess of 40%

Chickens and their DNA are no different.