# HELP! Hen left the eggs & 1 dead chick + another loose in the yard in freezing temps



## GrammyJean (Aug 29, 2012)

My hen was sitting on a big bunch of eggs, 2 hatched 5 days apart. This morning the 2 day old chick dead in the Run below the door to raised coop, and the hen traipsing all over the yard with the remaining chick following her around in freezing weather. I caught the chick & put it back in the coop in the nest with the eggs, and she went up there for a bit.... an hour later, she's in the yard again with chick following and chirping loudly.
Now a different Hen is sitting on her eggs! I know the chick can't get up into the coop again, and it's going to be 17 degrees tonight! My hen does stop and squat on the chick once in a while to warm it up, but that's not going to work tonight... they'll both freeze to death.

Should I bring the chick into the house and brood it myself? I have a coop & run with a very Low little box that I could lock them both into.... is that a better idea? And what about the eggs? I doubt the hen on them now will stay... she's never been broody. The hen that laid the eggs and has sat on them over 3 weeks has been a good brooder and mother 3 times before... dunno what happened this time...
I'm so discouraged... these are the Cream Legbar Blue Egg Laying Chicks she's brooding this time. I really need them to survive to continue my breeding program. 
GrammyJean


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

She will take it to bed. You're going to have to provide a restrained place for her and the chick or she will take it right back outside again.

She's done brooding and won't stay on the eggs now to hatch any more chicks. 

When I hatched in the coop in Winter I kept the hens with chicks in and had a bell lamp hung low enough to be a warming station for the chicks.


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## GrammyJean (Aug 29, 2012)

Thank you SO much. I put the low cabinet with the doors off in the smaller Run, with a heat lamp pointed into it, and caught the chick and put her into the tiny coop I made inside the run. My hen stalled awhile, but finally the chirping got to her and she went inside the run, and hopped into the tiny coop, so I just closed the door to the run and trapped her. I had put the eggs in there in a small basket, just in case she decides to sit on them some more (there are still 8 unhatched eggs.

I think one problem was that she's not sitting on her own eggs, and I only have one Cream Legbar hen that I was putting her eggs under my broody girl, so since she's not a great layer, there was 2 or 3 days between eggs sometimes, and also a few of my Americauna would get in the nest box WITH Maggie Ann (the broody one) and shove her over and lay an egg in there ... that's how she got so many to sit on. I took them out when I could discern them from the blue eggs, but when my Cochin (I don't know which one) layed a brown egg in there I left it, because I wouldn't mind a few more cochins...

Poor Maggie Ann was probably so confused she didn't know what was going on. The 2 chicks that hatched were bright and healthy Cream Legbar hens (easy to sex them). I don't know what happened to the one I found dead at the bottom of the Run this morning... it was almost under the coop... maybe fell out and was injured? It's a pretty far drop if she didn't use the ramp...

Anyway, I think I have things under control now, thanks to your advice. I don't know if she will go back to sitting on the eggs or not, but she's trapped in a small coop and a nice run with her chick and a heat lamp, so all should be well at least with the chick she has remaining if no others hatch. 

Thank you again.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

You're experiencing one of the problems that occur when a broody hen is accessible to other layers. If my broody was in a pen with other layers I marked the eggs she started with. Then if/when another laid in her nesting spot I removed the eggs. I saved them because chances were the other hen would also go broody within a week.

If you continue to let your hens hatch its going to be a good idea to have a place set up for her and her chicks. Even in the heat of summer brand new chicks will struggle trying to keep up. I usually kept mine up for almost two weeks. Then I knew they were strong enough to deal with going in and out.

No, that peep probably died from cold. It takes a huge fall for it to kill one.

Turn the heat lamp off at night. She will keep peep warm. Just have it on during the day when she wants to be up.


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## hellofromtexas (Feb 16, 2014)

I'm sorry

You have experienced 2 pitfalls of broody hens

She gives up after a period of time (Typicially 3 weeks)

and 

Hens aren't the best mothers in the winter.

You get away with more in the spring and summer hatches. I would candle and put the remaining viable egg in a manual incubator. If you don't trust the hen to be a winter mother then, yes I'd throw them in the brooder. If you want to leave them with the hen, I'd have a separate coop with a heat lamp. The brooder may be easier and cheaper.

I understand your concern. Cream legbars are an expensive bunch.


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## GrammyJean (Aug 29, 2012)

Thank you all for so much great advice. Maggie Ann resumed sitting on the eggs once I had her trapped in her own private run with the little coop inside it. She's still sitting this morning, and the chick is still alive.... but she has thrown 2 of the eggs out of the nest box. She had to have done it on purpose... Maybe that means she knows they won't hatch?
I can not candle these eggs, because they are a Medium Blue and no light goes through them at all... that I can see, anyway.
I have tried with very bright light and it doesn't even seem to get any light inside. I even went and bought an "official" candler, but it wasn't as bright as the method I was using before. It shows through the brown eggs fine (light brown & tan) and I can make out the yolk easily. I have 1 Leghorn that lays a white egg... I can see everything great in the white egg. LOL

I will keep you updated... but I think I will leave the heat lamp on at night, as that's when it gets coldest and my Roo already has quite a bit of frostbite on his comb even WITH the heat lamp in the big coop. Most of my hens have rose combs, but the 2 with large combs (for hens) only have a tiny bit of frostbite on them. I think my Roo gets it because he sits at the small doorway to the run and "guards" the hens all night... they get up on the roosts and the heat rises to them.

I do hope a get at least a couple more hatches before she's truly done sitting. This is her 3rd time raising chicks, so I was really shocked to find one dead yesterday morning. She's always been a great little Mother. But, this is her first time "hatching" eggs... I usually just buy some newborn chicks and put them under her when she goes broody. Maybe she needs more practice... and I know I do!

Thanks again, everybody. 
GrammyJean


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Watch to make certain peep if getting food and water. When Mom is still setting she ignores the peep. Show it where food and water is and make certain it can reach both without assistance. 

This can be done, its more work than during warmer months. Most of my hatching occurred in the coldest months and I never lost one to cold.


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## piglett (Jun 21, 2012)

GrammyJean said:


> I think one problem was that she's not sitting on her own eggs .


 how does she know what eggs are her's ?
my hen is trying to hatch a golf ball
not sure her chances are good


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Some know some how and are adamant they want nothing to do with any eggs that are not theirs. Same goes for chicks, while some hens will try to steal all the chicks they can others will kill chicks that are not their own. 

I had one try to hatch a chunk of banana once. I gave it to her to eat, then went about my business. When I came back it was gone so I thought she had eaten it. She was up a couple of days later to eat and there was the banana intact in the nest.


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## GrammyJean (Aug 29, 2012)

Update: Maggie Ann and (as yet unnamed) baby chick are doing great in their little private digs. Maggie Ann has now managed to get ALL the eggs out of the nest and pushed them to the corner in the far back of the tiny coop. As far as I can tell, she's not sitting on them any more. I can't reach them since the tiny, little coop I put in the private run for them is longer than my arm/shoulder, and too small for me to crawl into. LOL

I will just 'let it be' and keep my one baby chick. I am trying to find some Cream Legbar chicks (or even Silkie chicks for brooders) about a week old or less, to put under Maggie Ann... Pronto! The two times I sneaked baby chicks under her, she was a great little Mother to them. I just go out there in the middle of the night and slip one or two chicks under her, and make a quick exit. Last time she accepted 7 chicks, and after that, she started being mean to Chicks number 8 and 9, not warming them, sometimes pecking them, trying to keep them away from the food/water. So I took them into the house and raised them up in my bedroom until they were 3 or 4 weeks old, and could fend for themselves in a private run so the other chickens got used to them before turning them loose with the rest of my flock (about another 4 to 6 weeks). My oldest hen, Norma Rae, (4 year old Silver-laced Wyandotte) would follow them around, gently clucking as if she wanted to 'mother' them, but they were having none of it! LOL
The 2 little 'rebels' decided to roost on top of the big hen house, even though there was a perfectly good 2nd hen house that was empty but had roosts that nobody used. They still all refuse to roost in that house, but do use the nest boxes all the time... most
seem to like those nest boxes better than the ones on the big hen house, though a few do lay eggs there.

Please let me know if anyone in N. Texas or S. Oklahoma have a few Cream Legbar or Silkie female chicks (any color) they would like to sell right away! I don't think I can meet the minimum # of chicks to have them shipped, but if close, I can come and pick them up.
Thanks so much.
Grammy Jean


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Don't let someones sell you female Silkie chicks that are that young unless they were DNA tested. Its not possible to sex them that young.


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## Jeremysbrinkman (Jul 12, 2012)

Grammy Jean that is the two breeds I want to raise too! Cream Legbar and silkie except I don't want white silkies. 


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## Jeremysbrinkman (Jul 12, 2012)

Do you have a breeding pair if CLBs ?


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## piglett (Jun 21, 2012)

GrammyJean said:


> Update: Maggie Ann and (as yet unnamed) baby chick are doing great in their little private digs. Maggie Ann has now managed to get ALL the eggs out of the nest and pushed them to the corner in the far back of the tiny coop. As far as I can tell, she's not sitting on them any more. I can't reach them since the tiny, little coop I put in the private run for them is longer than my arm/shoulder, and too small for me to crawl into. LOL
> 
> I will just 'let it be' and keep my one baby chick. I am trying to find some Cream Legbar chicks (or even Silkie chicks for brooders) about a week old or less, to put under Maggie Ann... Pronto! The two times I sneaked baby chicks under her, she was a great little Mother to them. I just go out there in the middle of the night and slip one or two chicks under her, and make a quick exit. Last time she accepted 7 chicks, and after that, she started being mean to Chicks number 8 and 9, not warming them, sometimes pecking them, trying to keep them away from the food/water. So I took them into the house and raised them up in my bedroom until they were 3 or 4 weeks old, and could fend for themselves in a private run so the other chickens got used to them before turning them loose with the rest of my flock (about another 4 to 6 weeks). My oldest hen, Norma Rae, (4 year old Silver-laced Wyandotte) would follow them around, gently clucking as if she wanted to 'mother' them, but they were having none of it! LOL
> The 2 little 'rebels' decided to roost on top of the big hen house, even though there was a perfectly good 2nd hen house that was empty but had roosts that nobody used. They still all refuse to roost in that house, but do use the nest boxes all the time... most
> ...


wish you were near by, i would set you up with a few of my buff orpington chicks. we are hatching every egg we get till mid May.
so far we have about 75 between the 3 brooders


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