First time with broody chickens about to hatch eggs.

[Anonymous]

First time I've posted on this site. Some years ago was a regular visitor to "Pekinbantams.com"
Wondered if someone could give me advice please.
For reasons too long to go into (I'm very tired and it is my daughters 1st birthday tomorrow and I have a thousand things I need to be doing!), we currently have 2 broody pekins sitting on 5 (hopefully) fertile eggs each, in an Eglu. I suspect this is not ideal. However, the eggs are due to hatch tomorrow and don't want to disturb the mummies at this point. Also don't have another fox-proof accommodation for them. I heard cheeping today but don't think anything is out yet.
My 2 questions are, do I need to put food/water actually inside the eglu for the chicks or will they come out for it with the mummy hens in a couple of days time?. and
There is a slight step down from inside the eglu to the outside (about 2 inches) will they manage this? Someone told me they need to be on level ground?,,,,,

Thanks for your help! Have had the bantams for coming up 5 years, but never tried to hatch eggs before!

 

[Tim]

Hi Sara,

Ideally the hens need to be in separate accommodation once the chicks hatch - once the chicks hatch and mother and chicks bond to one another in the first 24 hours, anything else will get pecked - so my worry is they would peck the others chicks if they wander over too close..

You can put food close to them in the house for the first few days - Can you place a small ramp or something for them to get in and out though? a small piece of thin ply or something? This will ensure the chicks can get in / out to eat and drink. Put chick crumbs in a feeder outside under cover and water in a chick water container - it must not be a big container / too deep or they will drown. You can improvise using pebbles in the water.

Don't worry, the chicks do not need to eat or drink for the first 24 hours, the mother will show them when the time is right and most have hatched. Remember she needs food and water too.. ideally keep her food where she has been used to seeing it until now.

Have fun with the party and thanks for dropping in. We're a very new forum, part of poultrykeeper.com but there's already a really nice Ex-PB forum community developing on here and it's nice to see some familiar user names.

Tim

 

[lonicera56]

Hi
Just thought I'd mention - my sister had 2 pekins that decided to sit on the same clutch of eggs. When the chicks hatched, one hen took over the rearing & the other one got jealous & attacked one of the chicks & killed it. After this she separated the hens (a bit late really!) and put the one with chicks in her dog cage. I would hate the same thing to happen to you, so keep a careful eye on them if they're still together.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for getting back to me Tim and Lonicera,

Children's parties overwith (hasn't it been an amazing weekend?!). I slid a piece of stiff cardboard in between the 2 nests, so the hens can't actually see each other, almost as though in private cubicles!, although not very difficult to get to each other! So far we have 6 chicks (out of 10...) The higher ranking hen seems to have stolen one of the other chicks,,, ,not sure how this came about. Is this common? I think 5 of them hatched yesterday and one today. Day 21 was yesterday. How long would you recommend I wait before discarding the remaining eggs?
I've been putting food and water inside the coop as of today, but the chicks are already looking very perky and agile. Does anyone know roughly how long it will be before the mother hens take the chicks out to the normal feeder in the pen? I'm worried that at the moment the food and water is getting spilt into the nesting material.......

PS Thanks Tim - have placed a ramp leading to the outside, which I think will work quite well..Thanks again for the advice.

 

[snifter]

I'd split them asap as in the past I've seen my broody hens fight once their chicks hatched (within a day or so of each other). They need to be kept apart for sure. Chances of them getting on with the other hen and chicks is small. Even with a large open garden my 2 last year fought badly and I had to pen one and let the other free range.

I'd leave the eggs another 2 days past 21. Just to be sure.

I'd also after 24 hours put down chick crumb and water for the chicks (in a flat drinker, not a deep one) a small distance from the hen sitting so they can run in and out for food.

After a few days the hen usually decides its time to move and will start to show interest to move about. Any unhatched eggs remove and this should encourage her to move away from sitting.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone. I put a piece of cardboard in so the hens couldn't see each other when sitting but unable to separate them further than that. We stopped at 6 chicks. The hens abondoned the remaining eggs Monday afternoon, so I cracked them to find 3 infertile and one fully formed but unhatched chick. Sad about that one...
The chicks and mums are all out and about now scratching in the run. Bizarrely the mummy's seem to not care a jot which chick belongs to which of them and at night are swapping chicks and chicks seem to run to either one.......This must be fairly uncommon isn't it? Certainly they seem to be communally parenting and quite happy about it! Fingers crossed things continue to run smoothly.,.