What do you think happened? Suggestions?

[MurrayAP]

I recently had a couple chicks not survive a hatch under a broody and I'm curious to know what may have happened and if anyone more experienced has some suggestions for what I could have done better? I should mention this is only my 2nd time hatching chicks.

We have 1 duck and 3 hens sitting on a nest of chicken eggs with another duck sitting beside them on duck eggs. When I went to check on the eggs a few days ago, I noticed 3 chicken eggs were pushed out of the nest. I was going to toss them, but noticed they were still very warm and knew they were quite far along. There were 3 birds fighting over space in the nest and unsure why they were thrown out, I stuck them under the 2nd duck in her nest not knowing what to expect, but this may have been a mistake.

Anyway the next morning I found 3 dead chicks all outside of the nest, none fully dry, the membrane still partially covering the lower half of the one, the other out of it's membrane, but laying in half of it's shell. A 4th hen was sitting on the 3rd dead chick, it was outside its shell but hadn't fully absorbed its yolk. Any suggestions for what I could have done better? Or what may have happened?

As they've been hatching I've been moving mama and babies to a pen in our basement. I only move a mother with chicks and at that time I bring any eggs that have pipped with her. I've been leaving the remaining eggs with the other broodies in the nest. Is this a good way to be going about it?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Gallinarium]

I recently had a couple chicks not survive a hatch under a broody and I'm curious to know what may have happened and if anyone more experienced has some suggestions for what I could have done better? I should mention this is only my 2nd time hatching chicks.

We have 1 duck and 3 hens sitting on a nest of chicken eggs with another duck sitting beside them on duck eggs. When I went to check on the eggs a few days ago, I noticed chicken 3 eggs were pushed out of the nest. I was going to toss them, but noticed they were still very warm and knew they were quite far along. There were 3 birds fighting over space in the nest and unsure why they were thrown out, I stuck them under the 2nd duck in her nest not knowing what to expect, but this may have been a mistake.

Anyway the next morning I found 3 dead chicks all outside of the nest, none fully dry, the membrane still partially covering the lower half of the one, the other out of it's membrane, but laying in half of it's shell. A 4th hen was sitting on the 3rd dead chick, it was outside its shell but hadn't fully absorbed its yolk. Any suggestions for what I could have done better? Or what may have happened?

As they've been hatching I've been moving mama and babies to a pen in our basement. I only move a mother if she's sitting on chicks and at that time I bring any eggs that have pipped with her. I've been leaving the remaining eggs with the other broodies in the nest. Is this a good way to be going about it?

Thanks in advance.

It sounds like you have them setting together, you probably shouldn't do this. It can cause many problems, but one of the more notable ones is that a hen often bullies or kills chicks other than her own. Also, while a chicken's nest can be moved, you usually shouldn't after halfway through, until all the chicks that will hatch have hatched, as moving is dangerous to embryos. I don't keep ducks myself, (yet,) but I have read and heard from many sources that duck nest cannot and should not be moved. Good luck.

 

[MurrayAP]

It sounds like you have them setting together, you probably shouldn't do this. It can cause many problems, but one of the more notable ones is that a hen often bullies or kills chicks other than her own. Also, while a chicken's nest can be moved, you usually shouldn't after halfway through, until all the chicks that will hatch have hatched, as moving is dangerous to embryos. I don't keep ducks myself, (yet,) but I have read and heard from many sources that duck nest cannot and should not be moved. Good luck.

Thanks. How do I prevent them from sitting together though? Do you move the hen with her entire nest as soon as she's broody?

Yeah, ducks will usually abandon the nest if you move it to another location.

 

[Gallinarium]

Thanks. How do I prevent them from sitting together though? Do you move the hen with her entire nest as soon as she's broody?

Yeah, ducks will usually abandon the nest if you move it to another location.

If you can't move them for one reason or another, set up dividers. Chickens should be removed as soon as broody.

 

[MurrayAP]

Unfortunately I have some bad news and I'm going to leave this here so hopefully, someone else is able to learn from my mistakes.

I wasn't able to move the 3 birds or setup dividers without risking damaging the eggs in the process since I'd have to move everything. I decided the lesser of two evils was to leave them be and do this early on the next time. What a disaster.

Two more dead chicks and one crushed egg that was close to hatching. One survived the hatch and looked like it was killed. The other wasn't dried off yet, and was crushed under a pile of eggs.

Also, the egg that externally peeped, which I moved to the basement with the new mother didn't survive. I found it under her shrinkwrapped. Not a whole lot I could have done about that one without an incubator to keep an eye on it.

I'm a bit disheartened by it all, but I have 2 healthy chicks and one other with a gimpy leg that I've been babying. I've been giving her a vitamin B complex. I hope she recovers. She isn't in pain and seems quite happy, so I'm going to take care of her regardless of the outcome.

I think I'm going to move the remaining eggs to the hen in my basement. I don't see how things could get any worse.

 

[MurrayAP]

Well that didn't work out. The new mama had no interested in hatching anymore eggs. Back out to the barn they went. I made two nests far from each other and placed one broody chicken on each. Seems to be working for now.

I didn't move them sooner because I was familiar with ducks and knew they usually wont go back to a nest after you interfere with it. Thought it would be the same for chickens. Tough lesson to learn.