Broody hen leaves nest while eggs are hatching

[ravenm]

Hi all, Is this normal? I have a Serama hen sitting on 3 eggs. At this moment, two of the eggs already have cracks, and one chick is about to hatch. And just now, the mother hen decided to leave the nest and take a dust bath. When I tried to put her back on the eggs to keep them from getting cold, she just ran away from the nest. Meanwhile, another hen, who isn’t broody, came in, sat on the eggs, and is acting as if the eggs are her own offspring. What should I do? Im hoping the "original" mum will come back to the nest. At the moment Im monitoring situation.

 

[Perris]

I have not had such a thing happen, but I have had lots of broodies and hatches, and what I've learned is that the chickens know better than we do what to do and what not to do. They have evolved over millions of years without our care and attention and usually it works out well for them. Sometimes they neglect or reject eggs or chicks for a reason, and sometimes we intervene with the best of intentions but the worst of outcomes. I advise continuing to stay back and just watch and learn.

 

[ravenm]

I have not had such a thing happen, but I have had lots of broodies and hatches, and what I've learned is that the chickens know better than we do what to do and what not to do. They have evolved over millions of years without our care and attention and usually it works out well for them. Sometimes they neglect or reject eggs or chicks for a reason, and sometimes we intervene with the best of intentions but the worst of outcomes. I advise continuing to stay back and just watch and learn.

So, here's the situation: the mother hen returned to the nest, and the other one just went in to lay an egg (while also keeping the ones that had started hatching warm). Two chicks have already greeted the world, and the last one is still hatching.
As you advised, I didn’t intervene.

Thanks for the advice

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Keep us posted! This might turn out to be a co-parenting situation. Or not. Will be interested to see how this develops.

 

[Ch1cken Tender]

@ravenm, how are your chicks? I’m expecting a few myself tomorrow (hopefully)! In the stress of waiting, I am loving seeing success stories about Serama chicks in particular.

Any pics you would care to share of your chicks? Plus pics of their mom, of course.