Hello,
I am at a bit of a loss as to what to do. I had a hen go broody about 4 weeks ago, so I purchased some fertile eggs of some other breeds I'd like to add to my flock and put her in a caged area so she wouldn't be disturbed, but still be visible to other flock members.
I might have exaggerated with the nr. of eggs (13), and it looks like the nest box was not ideal... Whatever the reason, when i checked on her and candled the eggs I found some were quite cold. Much colder then the rest. I discarded the ones that were obvious duds, but kept the rest, including the cold eggs, since they seem to be developing normally.
Came day 21 and 2 eggs hatched, next morning (day 22) there were 5 chicks under her and another one hatched by the evening. I candled the rest, discarded 2, kept the 2 live ones under the broody.
The next morning (day 23) she left the nest with the 6 chicks and she made it clear that she's don with the sitting on the eggs business. I took the remaining 2 eggs since they were still alive and put them in an improvised incubator. By the next day (24) one had died, but the other one was still kicking and pipped by the evening, but the chick made no progress in the next 24 h and it looked like it was struggling so we assisted it. This turned out to be a mistake - it was not ready, the umbilical cord was still attached and when it kicked out of the shell it started bleeding. Not a lot but chicks are tiny. We did everything to stop the bleeding and it eventually did, but it looked very bad. I gave it some molasses water to restore some liquid every few hours through the night.
Regardless, I was pretty sure it will die by the morning but the little one is a fighter. By the morning he looked much better. I fed him yolk and molasses water and Today (day 2) he is already walking around, but he is still weak, not drinking by himself, chirping all the time. Pecking a little at the food scattered on the floor, but not much, not nearly enough to catch up with the others.
What I wanted to do initially was to put him back under the broody the next day after he hatched but his siblings were already up and about all day long, he could not keep up. Just sat there chirping sadly for them to come back (it seemed).
So I took him inside and I am waiting for him to get stronger, but I am afraid he already thinks I am the mamma, and he seems so lonely in his box...
The broody does not seem to be hostile towards him (maybe because there is another black chick with her, she was also never hostile when i took the eggs for candling and such) but he is still not fit enough to run around with the others and when he is in his box he stays snuggled under a teddy bear most of the time (we don't have a heat lamp, the box is on a radiator) - I take this to mean he would still need his mamma to warm him up a lot. Or maybe he is just lonely and he seeks comfort. I don't know.
What would be the best course of action here? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
I am at a bit of a loss as to what to do. I had a hen go broody about 4 weeks ago, so I purchased some fertile eggs of some other breeds I'd like to add to my flock and put her in a caged area so she wouldn't be disturbed, but still be visible to other flock members.
I might have exaggerated with the nr. of eggs (13), and it looks like the nest box was not ideal... Whatever the reason, when i checked on her and candled the eggs I found some were quite cold. Much colder then the rest. I discarded the ones that were obvious duds, but kept the rest, including the cold eggs, since they seem to be developing normally.
Came day 21 and 2 eggs hatched, next morning (day 22) there were 5 chicks under her and another one hatched by the evening. I candled the rest, discarded 2, kept the 2 live ones under the broody.
The next morning (day 23) she left the nest with the 6 chicks and she made it clear that she's don with the sitting on the eggs business. I took the remaining 2 eggs since they were still alive and put them in an improvised incubator. By the next day (24) one had died, but the other one was still kicking and pipped by the evening, but the chick made no progress in the next 24 h and it looked like it was struggling so we assisted it. This turned out to be a mistake - it was not ready, the umbilical cord was still attached and when it kicked out of the shell it started bleeding. Not a lot but chicks are tiny. We did everything to stop the bleeding and it eventually did, but it looked very bad. I gave it some molasses water to restore some liquid every few hours through the night.
Regardless, I was pretty sure it will die by the morning but the little one is a fighter. By the morning he looked much better. I fed him yolk and molasses water and Today (day 2) he is already walking around, but he is still weak, not drinking by himself, chirping all the time. Pecking a little at the food scattered on the floor, but not much, not nearly enough to catch up with the others.
What I wanted to do initially was to put him back under the broody the next day after he hatched but his siblings were already up and about all day long, he could not keep up. Just sat there chirping sadly for them to come back (it seemed).
So I took him inside and I am waiting for him to get stronger, but I am afraid he already thinks I am the mamma, and he seems so lonely in his box...
The broody does not seem to be hostile towards him (maybe because there is another black chick with her, she was also never hostile when i took the eggs for candling and such) but he is still not fit enough to run around with the others and when he is in his box he stays snuggled under a teddy bear most of the time (we don't have a heat lamp, the box is on a radiator) - I take this to mean he would still need his mamma to warm him up a lot. Or maybe he is just lonely and he seeks comfort. I don't know.
What would be the best course of action here? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
