the hatch process..and taking chicks from a mother?

[spish]

ok my broodys eggs have started hatching today (1 of 7 has pipped) my plan is to take the babies off mum once they are hatched as they will never survive out there with all the cats hovering about.
so when is best to take them? after they hatch? when they are fully fluffed up? after a few days??

also from pipping to fully hatching, how long does that usually take? 24 hours? 12 hours? i dont want to keep running over the fields to the hen house and checking every half hour if it can be helped.

also should i wait until they are all hatched and dry? or remove the babies one by one?

what effect willl it have on mum taking her babies? is she likely to go looney looking for them or will she just carry on regardless?

should i leave her 1 or 2?? (though i doubt they will survive out there sadly

)

 

[bleechme]

Eggs can take up to 24 hours to hatch even if there is the first crack and some may take as short a couple of hours. It varies from egg to egg. and it may take 1-4 days for all the eggs to hatch. Also yea she is going to be looking for them if you took them away, and I recommend them drying up first but they can be taken 1 by 1 if you have a place set up and ready with heat lamp and everything. Mom will remain protective and broody for a few days even after you took her chicks.

I really recommend you leaving them with mom if you could. maybe you can isolate them in a fence till the chicks no longer need to be heat lamped. Does your cats really kill chicks? has it done it before? If your cats or who ever's cats don't act aggressive towards your adult chickens, I doubt they will attack the chicks with mom's protection.

 

[tammyd57]

I had to take my broodies hatchlings from her for several reasons. I waited until 2 had hatched, and put them both in my brooder so there wouldn't be a lone chick in there. Then I removed the rest as they dried and fluffed up. After all were in the brooder, Momma hen didn't seem to look for them or anything, she was really busy eating and drinking since she tried to starve herself while setting. I have 3 juvenile chicks in an adjoining pen that she seems a little more interested in that the rest of the adults but those aren't her babies.

 

[spish]

i have nowhere to isolate mum and chicks together sadly or i would have done so already. i was going to move them at the beginning (mum and eggs) into the stables but it clashed with building work (stables being re-done before winter) so i coudnt bring her in
its not my cats that are the problem, its the strays that live on the outskirts of the fields, they have already had all the ducklings and my 'older' chicks that i self hatched

so i dont really want to risk it again leaving them out there. i could keep her in a cage but she'd have no room to move or stretch her legs, so that would be far too cruel.
wherever i put her she'll try and get back to the hen house surely? i also have 5 cockerals out there, they are likely to attack the chicks i believe?
its safer and easier (for me and the chicks) to bring them into a brooder.
sadly im just worried how mum will react

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

"infant mortality" among chicks left with their mom is definitely higher than if they are put in a brooder. A silkie breeder that I know hatches under her broodies but takes the chicks when they are 24 hours old and puts them in a brooder. I won't ever leave chicks with a broody again...too many things happen, even when they are separated from the other chickens.

 

[spish]

well one is fully out and all dried off, sitting under mum, egg 2 has just cracked (not pipped yet) should i really wait until a secong eggs is totally hatched or just remove this one on its own already? i dont understand why it hatched stzrted hatching so early (night of day 19/morning of day 20)

 

[bleechme]

I wouldn't move them till they hatch cause they need the humidity to hatch properly. You could probably wait till they all hatches then take them from mom. I don't know about other breeds but i've only had experience with game breed moms and they are very protective and they will look for their babies for a few days before they give up if you take them. I used to have a mom that chased and attacked me around the entire house cause I took one of her babies.