What to do after a baby chick hatches in the flock....

[urbanMike]

Hey guys, so we have a Buff Orpingtons that went broody a while back. She's been a bit broody longer than normal, but we let her be because we bought hatching eggs online. 6 Buff Orpington eggs to be specific. Well, one is viable. The other 5.. not so much. We had them in an incubator until today when we saw activity from one egg. They all technically should have hatched as today was the last day. I weighted them and only the one was hatching weight.... So I very carefully moved the hatching egg under our broody buff. Based on just reading what folks have done here. Checked in 20 mins ago, heard some peeping and our girl is even more broody. Gonna leave her alone for a while.

The thing is... We didn't really think about if we need to isolate or water for baby chick or any of that stuff. We just got really caught up in the, lets see if our girl can hatch some eggs! It's pretty hot here in Idaho right now. So temperatures should be fine. Assuming this works out... what should my next steps be?

Everything I've read here and online suggests that baby chicks hatched in the flock should.... (in theory) be accepted into the flock and do better.

We tried introducing three other younger chicks after having two older ones died earlier this year. That did not go so well. So... would really like to see some success here. But knowing it's just one chick... all by its lonesome. . .

 

[Brooks_]

From what I understand, as long as broody accepts the chick, it should be fine. Just make sure to have size appropriate feeder/waterer for the chick.

 

[urbanMike]

Well, never mind. It didn't work out. This has been a sucky year for us with the chickens.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Did she kill the hatching chick? (I cant tell from the photo). If thats what happened, your broody likely needed more time with the egg before it hatched. Broodys verbally communicate with their chicks while the chick is still in the shell. Next time (if there is a next time), give her developing eggs at a minimum a week to ten days before the hatch date.

There will also be other special accomodations needed for a broody and chicks (feed, water, etc). I'm sorry for your lost chick, & that you dont need to make those accomodations with your current broody.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

I see some blood on the chick, so most likely she killed it.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

I see some blood on the chick, so most likely she killed it.

That was my guess too, but wasnt sure. She may not have understood what was happening, instead thinking an "intruder" was invading her nest. Especially if she is a first-time broody, & only had the egg for an hour or two.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

That was my guess too, but wasnt sure. She may not have understood what was happening, instead thinking an "intruder" was invading her nest. Especially if she is a first-time broody, & only had the egg for an hour or two.

Yeah, that is what I was thinking.

 

[urbanMike]

No, I moved her. It was under her and already dead, when I moved it, she started eating at the yoke. This is my fault for being impatient and miss reading what people were doing. We had eggs she had been sitting on. She's been broody waaay longer than they are supposed to be. Well past 21 days. The reason we got the incubator is I grew concerned she'd stop sitting on them as it took two weeks to get our hatching eggs.

I think we'll just wait another year before trying again.