Were they Smothered Under a Sleeping Broody?

[Chicky Tocks]

I had four eggs under a broody and yesterday two hatched out completely. They're fluffed and totally healthy. The other two were pipped and peeping. I was looking forward to coming out and finding them fluffy this morning, but what I found were two halfway zipped and almost out fully formed chicks still in their eggs...but dead.

Did mom put her full weight on them last night while they were trying to hatch and smother them?

I feel so bad! As if I should have brought them in last night and let them finish hatching in the incubator.

 

[Chicky Tocks]

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Awww, I'm sorry that happened. But there's no guarantee that they would have hatched in the incubator instead. There are many many things that affect developing chicks and their success in hatching. A lot of it is genetic, and cannot be helped. It's especially sad to see a chick that made it all the way to the pip & zip and then dies.

I guess it IS possible for a hen to smother her chicks. But I'd rather trust them to do the job their instincts tell them to do. If you feel under a broody hen you'll find that she props herself up on her legs, she isn't resting flat on the bottom. I think it must be a delightfully warm, fluffy, feathery, cozy & comfortable place to be for a baby chick. You can see how easily the chicks move around under her breast & wings, it must be like a nice warm little room.

There are some dumb clucks who haven't received the full component of good mothering instincts, who will quit a nest half-way through the set, or peck at her own chicks. But most of them know a lot more about caring for egglings & chicks than we'll ever know, and I try not to interfere with their work.
Congratulations at least on the

you got, sorry for the ones you lost.