Will She be able to raise them all?

[koakritters]

We have a D Uccle at my barn that has been sitting on eggs, went to check on her today to find 4 chicks so far, and 3 more of the eggs had pipped!

SO if they all successfully hatch, that will be 7 babies for her, and there's 3 more eggs after that. will she be fine raising them all on her own or should i take some of them? i've got my own in my incubator that also hatched last night, i'd hate to take them, but i'd hate to leave them and her not be able to keep them all warm/together. I moved them down from the nesting box since it was 4ft high, i guess the last time she had chicks they all fell out and died. :'( and they are in their own separate part of the coop now away from the other chickens. She had the 4 and all the eggs under her when i left, but she's so small...

 

[chicken farmer 1997]

i would let her sit on them but but the nest on the ground. i have seen hens sit on any where from 5 eggs to 24 eggs.

 

[debid]

My chicken manual says that they can mother more chicks than they can cover and hatch eggs. So, I wouldn't take them unless her mothering skills fail to kick in.

 

[koakritters]

thanks! she ended up with 6, there were 2 more that died overnight.

one looked as if it wasn't supposed to be born yet, it's egg shell was still covered in blood. I had a hen before open an egg and kill the baby, so maybe she did that to this one knowing something was wrong... and the other one looked like maybe it had been left out in the cold and mom had forgotten about it or something, who knows. but the other 6 are doing great so far.