Tiny little broody bird

[Chickenfortress]

Well, she hatched a RIR this morning. Cute little bugger. Seven more eggs to go. I think the baby will outmass the mom in about a week. All of this going on at the same time as I am finishing up our new incubator. Any bets on how many more hatch before she abandons them? Can I get her to stay longer by removing the baby to a brooder?

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Yay for your hen!

Yay for you!

Did the chick just hatch? Is it all dry & walking around yet? My hens usually stay on the nest for 24 or more hours when their chicks start to hatch. The first chicks hang out under the hen waiting for their nest-mates to hatch. I think that's why they absorb the yolk right before they hatch, so they have their food needs met for that time while they wait for their family to join them. The hen also will eat the membranes from the hatched eggs, and sometimes offer bits to the waiting chicks.

After that first day the hen will take her hatched chicks for their first outing, to eat/drink/poop/dust bathe. At that time you can remove any unhatched eggs from the nest. You could candle them & if they have chicks you could see if they'll hatch in a brooder. Some hens will even accept those chicks back later. Or you could just toss or bury them if you don't want the extra work.

I know some folks will take the chicks from their broody hens and raise them in brooders, but I prefer to let the hens tend the chicks they hatch. They really do an excellent job, and why make extra work for myself when I have animals willing to do it for me?

 

[dave_Cash69]

Quote:
me and you both

 

[Chickenfortress]

Quote:
Oh my bloody god! Poor itty bitty babies still in their shells!?! I can imagine the poor thing flying through the air, feeling weightless, trying to flap its soggy wings but failing to do so because of the cramped quarters! Have you no empathy?

I know thats not what you meant (I hope) but the mental image was disturbing.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Chickenfortress, you were asking about what to do with any remaining eggs left in the nest after your broody hen takes her hatched chicks out to feed. I was describing what I've observed with the many Mama hens here. They tend to stay on the nest for 24+ hours until most of the eggs hatch, then take all those chicks out together for their first outing. Rarely, if ever, do they get those remaining eggs to hatch.

Some folks will take the chicks from the nest as soon as they hatch and keep them in a brooder. Some do this so the hen will stay on the nest until every egg hatches. Some will then return the brooded chicks to the hen, some continue to keep them in the brooder.

Other folks will let the chicks stay with the Mama, and whenever she decides to take her chicks out of the nest they'll take the remaining unhatched eggs and incubate them artificially until they hatch.

Often the remaining eggs are duds anyway, or contain chicks that stopped developing, or have other problems that kept them from hatching when the others did. Usually by the time I get to them they're already cold & any life within has ended. Sometimes I'm curious to see what has/has not developed inside, usually I don't. When I said "toss them" I didn't mean literally to throw them through the air -- never a good idea with potentially rotten eggs! I just meant you needn't take extreme measures to artificially incubate these eggs and try to get them to hatch if you didn't want to. I usually bury our cold unhatched eggs under bushes so they'll become a part of another living thing.

 

[Chickenfortress]

Sunny! Humor, ar! ar! You take me too seriously.

Anyway, I have a pic of my 2 new babies. And the remaining 5 are rocking about! There was the other one, though. If you dont see an air space while candling, you ought to steer clear. I even had the off smell as warning. I thought, theres no way this developed very long, so I thought I'd break into the big end a bit and look. Here I am making a tiny little poke one second, and the next it sounds like a pistol shot. Rotten egg goo and embryonic slime shoot out like a demented champagne cork. Thankfully it was pointed the other way, and I was saved a splashing. I wish I had had one of these on hand when the kids drove by egging cars in the neighborhood. A little tit for splat.

 

[Chickenfortress]

And now we have 6 from the clutch! The last one died half in the shell from blood loss. It took 5 days from start to finish, but we got more chicks from the wait. As often as she abandoned the eggs is sub freezing weather I'm amazed any survived at all. We had to move the last 5 eggs to the incubator because she left them. She doesn't like the bantam chicks, though. Her own breed she tries to kill. I caught her grabbing one by the neck and shaking it. I put her back out with the others as punishment, and they've nearly killed her overnight. Now I don't know what to do with her. My boy is building a rabbit hutch style coop for the bantams this weekend, so we will have a place to store her away from the bigger birds.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Yay, I'm glad you got so many new chicks, but sorry they're not getting along. I think that with so many centuries of selective breeding in chickens they haven't all come through with their instincts intact. Some hens seem to be better at brooding & tending chicks than others. And it sounds like the rest of the flock is now making this hen the bottom of their pecking order. More cages may be your best solution. Best wishes with your new chicks and your flock!