You won't believe this. Help....

Daisy96

In the Brooder
9 Years
Dec 22, 2010
21
0
22
Ok so we are new at this chicken thing. We got 6 baby chicks last year and this year we got some more and some chicks and adults including a rooster were given to us. So we noticed after having the rooster for a while that one of our buffs was broody. We got all excited because we our buff was gonna hatch her first baby chicks.

Let me add that I am 39 weeks pregnant myself and could go anytime. I figured up and knew it was about time for them to start hatching. I went out there about 3 days ago and I saw that one had hatched. Well we had been trying to keep a close eye on mama hen and chick and watching for new chicks. My girls ( my children) got very excited. I noticed that when she stood up yesterday that several of the eggs were not hers. I know because of size and some are green. Anyway I decided to leave them since they had been there the whole time they could hatch.
Well today we go out and she has gotten down and baby chick is with her still no other eggs hatched. We were outside for hours and she never got back on the nest. Our nest boxes are built up on the wall so she would have to fly up. I was wondering if she would leave the baby chick. Well she never did, she wouldn't even go out to get water. I took some water and food in to her.

My husband worked for a couple of hours sectioning off part of the coop to put the 10 week old chicks in. So we could clean out brooder and put mama and chick in it. We figured that she was not going back to set on the eggs my husband got them out and thought that she had been off them so long that they were no good or had not survived since she had been off the nest for so long. He shook one of the green ones and said he could here it sloshing and that it was rotten. He thought it best just to throw them away. I wasn't so sure. I thought maybe we should move them into the brooder with her and wait another day and see. Well I didn't say anything much. His dad raised chickens and I figured he knew. Well he threw them into the woods.

Oh my goodness you won't believe what happened,
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on the last one we heard a chirp. So then he goes into the thick snakey woods to get it. It kept chirping, he had to clear thick weeds and vines with a shovel. He finally got to the chirping and brought it out. Can you believe it is still alive.

We didn't have a clue what to do. So we took it to mama hen. It was still partially on egg and a little bloody. Mama hen started pecking at it. So I snatched it out and I think for a moment we all started to panic. Then I said wait now when people use incubators, they have them under a light and they dry out and come out the egg on there own. I wasn't sure if the blood was normal when hatching or from the egg busting. We felt so stupid
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Anyway we put the chick on some hay in a card board box and put a light on it. She moved around kicking her feet and her neck still bent like she was in the egg. When it got dark we brought her inside and put her in a plastic container on wood shavings. She finally got dry but still has not stood up. I'm thankful she's still alive. She's laying in a little ball sleeping and every little bit I will hear her chirping.

Do you think she will make it.
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Should we try to put her back with mama hen tomorrow?
 
It can take a while for a newly hatched chick to get up and moving. All you can do is wait and see. I hope she makes it. Did your hubby try to retrieve the other eggs? There could have been others ready to hatch too.
 
This does happen, I usually move the momma to a bottom floor sectioned off are a day or 2 before hatch with lots of food and water. I would get some water with a wee bit of sugar or plain electrolite liquid dropped into the chicks mouth. at night when momma is in partial darkness slip the baby under her and keep a close eye on her to see if she accepts it. I have had great luck with this. My mommas have raised factory birds right along with theirs when they are slipped under her int he darkness of night, but keep a close eye on her to see if she accepts it.
 
Well this morning she/he is all fluffed up sitting up and chirping, just still hasn't stood up yet.
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