KYBirdman - Broody hen with eggs

[Josh]

Received this question from KYbirdman and I'm posting it here so everyone can chime in. :)

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hello,

One egg hatched and the mother rolled it out of the nest.

I found it a it feels cold but moving ....took it inside
trying to keep warm....

what about the rest of the eggs
under the hen?

does she know which hatchings are not hers....
the hatchling ws from another chicken.

Now what?

[Josh]

No, the hen will not be able to tell which one are "hers". Are all the eggs around the same age? If you have two different clutches, it might be a problem if some of them start hatching ahead of the others and the hen gets off the nest to take care of the hatched chicks and leaves the unhatched eggs behind.

[JamesC]

I think the interpretation of what happened is a little off. The hen did not roll the chick out of the nest, the chick did that on its own but then couldn't get back under the hen....and the hen doesn't know how to "roll" chicks back, she will try to nudge chicks back under her while she is on the nest but that's the extent of it. The problem is more about the shape of the nest than anything else. It should be a nice hollow with high sides but without a drop off so the chicks can't roll down the other side (in other words it fits the whole nest box). I had this happen with a duckling hatched under a bantam when I was very young and from that time on learned how to take the precaution so chicks can't stumble or roll out before they are dry and have found their legs. If there's an opening for the hen to go through to get to her nest, it should be blocked while the chicks are hatching, then removed when they are dry and the hen is ready to leave the nest with them.
We think of chicks as pretty much self sufficient but until they are dry and able to move, they are vulnerable to the cold.
Josh is right, the hen can't tell which are hers. That's not to say that every broody is a good mother. I have had them kill chicks as they hatch but not by rolling them out of the nest, that would assume that a hen knows the cooler temperature would kill the chick but believe me they aren't that smart. Biology and physics are not their majors. A hen responds to the sound made by the chicks - that's how she knows they are cold and she needs to hunker down so they can get under her for warmth - listen to the range of sounds they make and you will quickly learn what they mean.
I'm glad you found the chick still alive, it will do well if you put it back under the hen once it's warmed up and gets on its feet.
James

[KYbirdman]

The chick is doing fine.

however, when I tried to reunite
chick with mom....she kept pecking and biteing the poor lil chick.

I have it under a lite now...I'll
probly have to remove the eggs
as they hatch. I think their were all laid the same week.

Is there any chance the mother will
accept them latter on?..or am I doing somthing wrong here?

it doesn't seem I have a "good"
broody hen.

[JamesC]

No, if a hen doesn't take a chick within the first couple of days, she never will and pecking is a bad sign so you did right to remove him.

Good luck with him, it might be a good idea to raise the others with him since you have to keep the brooder warm anyway. The chick will have brooder mates which is better for his/her development.

I don't think you are doing anything wrong. Some hens are not good mothers. They follow their instincts as far as incubation goes but then kill the chicks. It doesn't happen often but as I advised in my last post, I had a hen do that once. Hard to know what the problem is but I would hesitate before using her as a broody again unless you can be there to remove the chicks as they hatch.

James

[Heidicat]

Hi James!!! Great to see you again!

Bad chicken momma's, you have to wait and see? How long off the eggs, is too long?

I found my broody in the wrong nest box, yesterday. Her eggs were cold to the touch. I put her back there, right away, but I am not sure how long she was off of them.

Any chance they will still hatch?

Heidi

[JamesC]

Hi Heidi:
I had a hen locked off her nest for 8 hours once. She was set up in my back garage and had left while I was doing my morning chores (without my knowledge) so I found her sitting by the door when I got back from work. She went right to her nest and all of her eggs hatched - just a day later than expected.
You can solve the problem you describe by separating the broody from the rest of the flock. When you leave them in the main coop they will eventually end up on the wrong nest at some point. They also end up with new eggs every day, eggs get trampled, chicks get trampled when the eggs pip or hatch, etc.
If this was her only time off (except for her daily rest) the eggs will likely be OK.

James

[KYbirdman]

Another egg hatched last nite .
both are doing fine ubder the lite
three more eggs under the hen.

My hens are 100% free range,
the hens return to the coop every evening on their own.

I'm thinking the broody hen might
see the hatchlings as food or just a plain nusence.

I took one of the chicks out with
the other hens for a few minutes.

The Hens looked courious, but one of them made the "get away from me" screech....and they all took off...

So much for being adopted into the flock....

[Heidicat]

Thank you James! You don'y know how happy that makes me. It was the first and only time she was off that long. I made it so, no other hen can get in there with her. I moved her to a medium sized dog kennel. She has all she needs in there. I let her out once a day to do her thing, eat some grass, and such. But she wants back in, right away, so I put food and water in there with her.

I will be taking the ducklings away from her, I can brood them myself. They turn out much tamer than if I let her do the job. The ducks I have now, well....they are frightened of people. Any people. The ducklings I raised in the brooder, were very tame, and loved us, instead of the other ducks. Peeps and Speedy, were eaten by a coon. :cry: So I want another Peeps and Speedy.

My question is, will they be imprinted if I take them away from the hen jsut as they are piping? When would be the "best" time to take them away? Is under the brooder light warm enough to encourage them out of their shells?

Peeps and Speedy, were right out of the incubater, and saw my daughter, right off. Will it be the same???

Very happy to see you around again, James!

Your friend, Heidi

[JamesC]

Heidi:
You will have to leave the duckling eggs under the hen until they are hatched and dried. If you take them away and put them in a brooder at that stage they should still imprint on you and your daughter. If you take them out while the eggs are still just pipped, there is a chance that they will dry and stick to the shell membrane. If you have an incubator set up and can get the humidity really high, you could put them in there at about day 25 let them pip and hatch in there.
I agree with you - hen raised ducklings are more wary of people and will never be as friendly. I raised a trio of goslings when I was a kid. They made such a fuss every night when I locked them into their coop that I thought the neighbours, who weren't all that nearby, would start to complain!
Have fun with them Heidi!

PS
When you say that the food and water is in the dog kennel with her......she has to get off the nest to eat and drink right? If not she will be taking her big bowel movement while still on the nest and those eggs will become a foul mess!!! Just make sure she has to get off for exercise and remove those enormous droppings everyday when she settles back in to help keep the nest as clean as possible.

James

[Heidicat]

Yes, the kennel is big enough for her to "have" to get up and eat and drink. I thought about that too. I didn't think poo would be good to be all over the eggs.

I don't have an incubator, so I will just wait till they are dry and then remove them. I just hope they hatch and are healthy.

It was so much fun to have the other ducks, they would follow Sara and I all over the yard. Helping us do everything. Or so they thought! They didn't want to go into the coop either. They wanted to come in the house with us at night. After they got older, it was not as bad. But, boy oh boy, if we would get out their sight, they would call and call. Very cute. I bet it was quite a sight to see the baby ducks, couple of cats, and the dog following us everywhere. The cats were good, not once did they go after the baby ducks. The dog on the other hand, wanted to clean the butts and lick them. Ducks do not like to be licked. They had very clean bottoms, though. :lol:

I will let you know how it goes, Heidi :wink:

[sail2617]

hahahahaha,
That must have been quite a site. That's really funny about the dogs.

Peace,
Sail

[Heidicat]

KY, any more chicks yet?? How are they doing?? Aymore hatch? I still have 1 1/2 weeks to go.

[KYbirdman]

yepper,

got three now , one more about to hatch.

found one very cold out next to the nest when I got home from work. The hen had pecked him/her real good. but I brought it inside under the light. it made a come back , However I put a lil mason jar cap with water in with it incase it needed water from the ordeal it's mother did to it.
and when I woke up it had gottin wet .....dried him out again but it was too much for the litle guy.
;0(

but it looks like I've got four outta six hatchlings for my first time around the block.

Thanks for the help Josh!

[Heidicat]

Aw that poor lil guy! I would not be using that hen ever again for hatching chicks. What a meanie, she is!

Good thing the rest of them have tyou, to be a good momma, for them. LOL!!

Do you have a camera?? Heidi :wink: