Ok so I have a ton of questions!! This is our first set of naturally grown and raised baby chicks. #1: Can I leave our newly hatched babies in the coop with the rest of our flock? We have 7 hens and 1 rooster that is bosses around by the hens LOL! So far the momma hen seems to be protecting the babies and pecks the others if they come close. The other 7 including the rooster seem very afraid of the momma and are staying away from the babies so far. #2: 4 of the eggs have hatched and there are still 3 more that haven't. She seems to be leaving the unhatched eggs and going with the babies but I candled the unhatched eggs and there are still chickes in them. Since these are her 1st babies is she going to abandon the unhatched eggs and let them die? #3: Should I make her lay on the unhatched eggs? I have been making her lay on them along with her babies for the last 24 hours but is this ok? I think she views me as dominant and is very good about me checking the eggs and the babies. #4: One of the eggs had a crack in it and the fluid coming out of it smelled bad! Not like the other babies that had hatched but like something rotten! So I candled it and there was a baby chick but no movement. I cracked it open and it smelled awful! There was a fully grown baby chick but it wasn't alive? Why would it be dead and smell rotten? Thank you for any and all input!! This is our first set of babies laid by our hens and we kind of don't know what to expect.
#1 I would keep a close eye on them, but if she is a good mother she will keep them safe. #2 You never know what she will do, chickens are the Queens of Unpredictable! #3 Hmmm. I have no idea. #4 That was a late quitter, dispose of it and clean up any mess it made, that smell is bacteria, sickness, and yuck!
If you can get her to keep on any unhatched eggs, that'd probably be the best option! Or just put them under another broody hen, if you have one We had some eggs still left after our hen walked off to be with her chicks (first time hatching eggs, so I just shoved any old egg under her without knowing any better!) After a terrible decision to crack one of the unhatched eggs open (thinking it was dead) we just put all the other unhatched eggs under another broody, and all but two hatched! And now you can't tell which of the chickens were the ones that hatched late- they're all nearly grown up and are busy running around like nutters!
Thank you for your help!! I did clean up everything from the bad egg. I think I will let them be around the other chickens because so far she is a really good mommy I don't think we have any other broody hens. One of our hens (our blue egg layer) is laying her clutch right now. Maybe I'll just keep shoving them under our momma hen until our other hen is done laying her eggs. Then when/if she starts to lay on her eggs I'll give them to her.
