Surprise Chicks!

[MinneChickies]

Two of my BO hens have gone broody this spring/summer. With the first, she sat on eight eggs from the other hens x mutt rooster. She seemed to do a good job, but only two chicks hatched. In the meantime, the second hen went broody, and I could. not. break. her. She'd been broody for weeks, and I didn't want to give her more of "our" eggs to sit on, in case none of them hatched, and then she stayed broody.

So the neighbors brought over nine guinea eggs for her to sit on -- they stuck the eggs under her. That was three weeks ago, so I was expecting them to hatch next weekend. During one of her tea breaks last week (the only time I'd seen her off the nest), I peeked at the eggs, and I could have sworn at least one was a chicken egg. (Maybe a banty? Smaller than my BO eggs, bigger than the guineas.)

And now, 21 days after my neighbors brought the eggs over, two chicks have hatched. I'm pretty sure the other eggs ARE guinea eggs, though! Since I have a heat lamp but don't have an incubator, I've taken the two chicks and will raise them inside. Have I done the right thing? I'm assuming the hen would leave the nest if I left the chicks with her, and the guinea eggs still have almost a week until 28 days are over. Do you think she'll just keep sitting now that the chicks are gone?

 

[Pyxis]

You did the right thing, she would have left the other eggs had you left the chicks. Hopefully she will keep sitting for you and hatch out the keets.

 

[334momof3]

Hen was sitting on eggs,but since 2 chicks hatched 5 days ago she hasnt been sitting on the other eggs. This one was cracked,so i thought i might need to toss it , but i hit it on the table and noticed it is still moving. What should i do? I do not have an incubator?

 

[MinneChickies]

Just thought I'd update to say that the guineas hatched! Went out Friday morning and there were six live keets, one dead, and one egg that never hatched.

The only confusing part now is that 6 live keets + 1 dead + 1 unhatched + 2 chicks = 10 eggs, and my neighbor put nine under her! I assume one of the chicks must have been from an egg on of my hens laid (neighbor didn't check to see if there were already eggs from that morning under her), but both chicks look just the same (and just like the other chicks my hens have produced). So maybe there was another guinea egg that... got eaten at some point? Chicken mysteries!

Anyway, here's mama hen with some of the keets. She's been taking good care of her adopted babies!

 

[RoosterDon]

Isn't this fun? !!! We never know what they will do.

I was done with hatching, and had a new hen go broody. I kept taking her eggs away, daily, for 30 days. She never squawked or complained. She just sat there day and night and she broke me. She is not only one of my best brooders, but I recently had a new broody lose interest at the 1 week mark and that same hen took over the same day.

Also, it is a good idea to check under your hen (if she will let you) each day after first marking the eggs you want her to hopefully hatch. When she leaves her nest to do her business and take a break it is common for other hens to pile in and lay on her nest. I even have hens who will get in the nest with her to add to her nest. (Mother Nature at its finest to continue the existence of is species).

I use a sharpee and have never had a problem. I first used a pencil and learned it smudges and gets pooped on and it was a nightmare. The ONLY, and I truly mean ONLY loss I have had due to illness or disease in 3 years was in year one when we brought a chick back from the feed store that was "so cute". I will never enter an outside chick again. The sharpee does not bleed through and the chicks have always been fine. I just put a date on each one.

Good job on your hatch!!!

 

[MinneChickies]

Also, it is a good idea to check under your hen (if she will let you) each day after first marking the eggs you want her to hopefully hatch. When she leaves her nest to do her business and take a break it is common for other hens to pile in and lay on her nest. I even have hens who will get in the nest with her to add to her nest. (Mother Nature at its finest to continue the existence of is species).

Well, the hens were laying eggs in the nest boxes of one of those little coops-with-an-attached-run that's sitting in our barn (my parents bought it before realizing they wouldn't be allowed to have chickens in town), so I shut the door immediately after the guinea eggs were under her. The chicken eggs must have already been there -- should have checked first! My own baby was about a week old at the time, so I wasn't thinking of all the details!

It's been fun to have a couple of hatches this summer, but I'm glad the neighbors will be taking these guineas (and the two bonus chicks) back to their farm -- the chickens start to pile up quickly, otherwise!