Staggered eggs, first chick found dead under hen

[NewchickieLTJ]

Hello! I have spent a lot of time lurking on here, but this is my first post. I hope I’m posting in the right forum!

I was given 2, one year old bantam silkie hens 25 days ago. Both hens were with a rooster before coming to me, and one went broody the day after I got them and hasn’t stopped sitting since. She’s been very dedicated to her eggs and is a sweet little hen. We had a baby chick born two days ago, right at 21 days, and it died My OG broody hen has been sitting since day 2, but my second hen decided to pitch in 3 days ago and take over half the egg pile. Low and behold, the baby chick that I’ve been excitedly waiting on, was hatched by the newest broody hen and not by OG. The new broody did not care for the chick, and it died. From what I’ve read, it’s possible that since she only recently went broody, she wasn’t “ready” for a chick yet, and that’s why she didn’t care for the baby? She didn’t keep it warm, it was in the low 50’s here, and I found little chickie sitting off all by itself still alive. I tucked the baby underneath her for the night, thinking she would sleep and leave the chick where I left it, and I could check on it in the am. I came out to find the baby fully undeneath the hen, dead, squashed on her pile of eggs. It looks like maybe she was treating the chick as she would an egg, and tucked it fully underneath her and sat on it and crushed it.

So...what do I do with any new chicks we get now? I’m sure we’ll get one today or tomorrow. If my long-time broody hen hatches the next one, should I allow her to keep the chick and try to care for it? I already have a brooder set-up inside, and will *not*!be allowing the hen that’s not ready to care for anymore chicks. What about my mama who’s been broody for 25 days now though? Should I give her a chance? Or, should I remove any and all chicks right away and not allow either to raise them?

The hen that crushed the chick seems to be higher in the pecking order, btw. She has pecked me several times, and I’ve even seen her peck my other sweet hen when she tried to take a dust bath in her hole...she’s kind of domineering.

I would really prefer the chicks be raised by the hens. That’s what I was planning on from the beginning. My newer broody hen deciding to take over half the eggs has changed the whole dynamic. I was prepared to have my one hen be mama, and to separate the other hen in case she didn’t get along well with the chicks, since she’s had a history of being perky. Now I’ve got two broody buddies sitting right next to each other in the coop and I don’t know what to do. I feel awful for tucking that chick back under mI thought surely her motherly instincts would kick in over night. I should have brought the baby inside

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I'm sorry I can't really give guidance other than to sit tight and wait it out.
That's the danger of a staggered hatch under a broody hen. One should always mark the eggs under a hen the first day and remove any that other hens volunteer to the nest.

 

[NewchickieLTJ]

I'm sorry I can't really give guidance other than to sit tight and wait it out.
That's the danger of a staggered hatch under a broody hen. One should always mark the eggs under a hen the first day and remove any that other hens volunteer to the nest.

Thanks! I know, I’ve really messed up. I’ve wanted to get in there and mark the eggs, but my OG hen gets so upset and I’ve felt bad disturbing her. These hens in general, are skittish and scared of people. The previous owner must not have handled them when they were chicks. She told me from the start that they weren’t friendly chickens haha, so I knew...if I could go back, I’d force the issue and mark the eggs!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Don't feel too bad. We've all made similar mistakes. I don't like messing with setting hens either. I wait till they come off the nest for their daily defecation and quickly mark the eggs then.
They may become less skittish when they get to know you. I've never had silkies but I prefer skittish breeds because they are more predator proof.

 

[NewchickieLTJ]

Don't feel too bad. We've all made similar mistakes. I don't like messing with setting hens either. I wait till they come off the nest for their daily defecation and quickly mark the eggs then.
They may become less skittish when they get to know you. I've never had silkies but I prefer skittish breeds because they are more predator proof.

Hopefully so! Maybe it’s good that they’re a little skittish then though.

I think my coop is part of the problem. They don’t use the brooder box to lay their eggs! The lay them on the coop floor, which is hard for me to sneakily get to because I basically have to crawl into the coop haha. After this, I’ll probably just build them a custom coop that I can walk into.