Hatching chaos

[Crazy chicken lady 77]

Yesterday was day 21 hatch day. It's been really hot and my hen is a 1st time mom. Several eggs had pipped but the mom was across the small area off of all the eggs. Today has been more chaos. Some chicks hatched on their own, but others were shrink wrapped probably because she was off her nest too much. I lost 2 chicks, one of which pipped internally, but not external. Looked shrinkwrapped to me and another that she accidentally stepped on while it was hatching. 5 chicks that are doing great and 3 that are very week, but will hopefully grow stronger overnight while she is settled.
My question is ... I have another hen that has 5 eggs set to hatch in 2 weeks. Is there something I can do to prevent this? All eggs were set at the same time.

 

[Debbie292d]

Hi,

Do you happen to have an incubator? Your hen was probably just heat-stressed, so she wasn't behaving normally as she wasn't up to par, and adding to that, it's her first time.

I'd have probably taken the ones that hadn't hatched and put them in the incubator. Then give her the chicks a day after they hatch so they are strong enough.

Otherwise, new hens always get better with experience.

Hopefully, the temps will be better when your other hen hatches hers. Is it her first time too?

 

[Crazy chicken lady 77]

Hi,

Do you happen to have an incubator? Your hen was probably just heat-stressed, so she wasn't behaving normally as she wasn't up to par, and adding to that, it's her first time.

I'd have probably taken the ones that hadn't hatched and put them in the incubator. Then give her the chicks a day after they hatch so they are strong enough.

Otherwise, new hens always get better with experience.

Hopefully, the temps will be better when your other hen hatches hers. Is it her first time too?

Yes. It is the other hens 1st time too. I do have an incubator but tried that with my last hatch since it was staggered because I was out of town when she started and other hens laid under her. I ended up with one sticky chick and tge others shrink wrapped and died. Good news is all 8 chicks are alive this morning. Bad news is my 2nd broody has some sort of mites. I've never dealt with mites. Ugh

 

[C Siena]

Yes. It is the other hens 1st time too. I do have an incubator but tried that with my last hatch since it was staggered because I was out of town when she started and other hens laid under her. I ended up with one sticky chick and tge others shrink wrapped and died. Good news is all 8 chicks are alive this morning. Bad news is my 2nd broody has some sort of mites. I've never dealt with mites. Ugh

If one has mites, others probably do as well. I would check some of the others.
Others more knowledgeable will let you know how to treat as there are chicks involved.

 

[Debbie292d]

Yes. It is the other hens 1st time too. I do have an incubator but tried that with my last hatch since it was staggered because I was out of town when she started and other hens laid under her. I ended up with one sticky chick and tge others shrink wrapped and died. Good news is all 8 chicks are alive this morning. Bad news is my 2nd broody has some sort of mites. I've never dealt with mites. Ugh

First, the hen with mites. When the chicks hatch, they'll get the mites, so you need to eradicate them.

Get a can of Permethrin/Garden powder. You can get that at farm stores, Walmart garden store, etc.

She's not going to like this, but you need to take her and her eggs out of the nest where you can thoroughly dust her and the eggs. Before putting her back in there, put the old nest bedding in garbage bags and seal it up. Sprinkle permethrin on the bottom, then replace your nesting material and put the hen and her eggs back in there.

This will kill all of the live mites. I'd do your whole coop to include the chickens. Be sure to keep the dust down so they don't breath it, but it's safe for pets, just not cats if you have any. You'll need to redo this in a week to 10 days because this doesn't kill any mite eggs, which will hatch, and you'll be back to square one.

Shrink wrapping doesn't have to be deadly, and rarely happens under hens. Get yourself a very bright flashlight so you can candle the eggs. Then you'll know if any were dead several days ago and can remove them, and see how the live ones are coming along.

If you see one's pipped (broke through the egg) but not coming out in over 24 hours, then it could be shrink-wrapped or be stuck. They can take a very long time to hatch but if you wind up having to assist, this article will help you:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/


If she leaves the nest with her babies, and there's still viable eggs in the nest, those I'd put in the incubator.

For feed, ALL of the chickens can have the chick crumbles. That makes it easier so the little chicks get what they need, as do your chickens. That's very similar to all-flock crumbles if you choose to just get a huge bag of feed. We use Kalmbach's Flock Maker crumbles, then put out a dish of oyster shell for the hens.

To ensure hens don't lay eggs under other hens (causing staggered hatches), once a hen is laying on eggs, take a thin black magic marker, or a pencil, and put a small x on each end of her eggs. That way when you check them later, you can easily see which ones are hers, and remove the extras.