Smothered Chicks

We are so devastated. Our first broody hen hatched successfully 2 chicks, smothered one (which I believe was an honest accident, trying to cope with the first two active chicks), so we brought in the fourth after some zipping and it finished hatching in the house and was returned to her. They are happy, but that was one chick loss. Then our second broody had an egg hatch early, and she refused to budge, and it smothered in the crushed shell. Yesterday of the three left one had pipped and two were peeping. I decided to check on her at 4am and found the pipped egg also as the first, smothered and dead. The other two eggs haven't pipped yet. How do I tell the children about yet another loss? And what do I do about the other two eggs? She absolutely refuses to move. Can she suffocate an egg before it even pips? We don't have an incubator. Can something be rigged up to allow the other two a chance? Right now 3 successes and 3 losses (actually, 5 - a missed viable egg and an orphan wild bird that died - one son is particularly sensitive to these things), with 2 uncertain, is getting almost more than they can bear, and I am not far behind. I have two more broodies due the 21st and 27nd. Do we have to go through this again? I am not sure which is worse, losing chicks to incompetent hens or predator loss, both are equally heartbreaking. I sure hope the success rate moves faster than the failure rate over the next couple of weeks. Thanks for letting me cry on your shoulders , even though I am rather quiet on the boards. I follow the stories and have met some of you.

I've had silkies do that. They brood so well and you wait expecting the chicks and then they sit so tight the chicks can't even get out of the shells. Very disappointing.

Oh no, how very disappointing. I had no idea silkies would do that. Is this her first time? A lot of first timers will make novice mistakes and usually (hopefully) improve their next round. And then there are broodies that made good setters, but not mothers. I'm sorry this happened to you. Hatch day should be exciting, not heartbreaking...

I haven't had this happen, but reading this I figure I might just. My fatty-fatty-two-by-four (Dark cornish) hen went broody, suddenly as well. She found turkey eggs and be damned if you can get her off them (which is fine). I do worry though, she's such a heavy, muscled bird, I think if she nested on anything BUT the turkey eggs she'd crush and break them.

That said, she is MEAN. Incredibly MEAN. Anything getting near her is hissed at, growled at, pecked and bit ravenously, she has almost taken flesh off my hand more than once when lifting her up to check under her for new eggs (not that anyone could lay on her!) When you get near her, she hunkers down and presses herself into the nest as hard as she can, and I get this feeling she would do so again when she felt something under her. I'll give her the chance, as I give all my broodies chances this time of year, but I do suspect it'll turn out with a smother or 2.

I've always had banty girls set down on more eggs than you think they could cover and prove me wrong. I think the weight works to the benefit of the hatchlings, but, what do I know, really LOL. I'm sorry to hear of your tragedy. It's hard when things like that happens, or even when they kick a weak one to the side.

I had a broody who crushed a couple of chicks as they were hatching because she moved around too much. I have spent hours watching them at hatching time. The most successful mamas I have had barely moved a muscle during the couple of days it took to hatch. The first time I had a broody I was so anxious to see if everything was ok under her. She ended up moving around because of my interference and squashed a chick. I now sit with them and talk to them but do not touch them at all during the hatch no matter how curious I am. I think the shells get more fragile at the end and are easily broken. I think that is why they instinctively sit so tight. I can't imagine that suffocation would be a problem but chickens teach me all the time that I don't know everything.

I don't have any advice on the broody, but for the children ... they are tougher and more resilient than you think. Kids are amazing at coping with death and life and the circle of it all, if you give them the chance to figure it out. I am raising children on the farm, and my 7 year old is pretty incredible when it comes to dealing with death. She has a little cry, then bucks up and moves on. She maybe mentions it a time or two and wants to talk about it, but if you deal with it as a natural part of owning animals, your kids will learn to accept it.

The trick, though, is to retain the idea that all life has value, while still teaching them that death is a part of life.

Case in point, two or three years ago, a visitor ran over one of our kittens. The lady was trying to shield my daughter as I picked up the cat's lifeless body - the poor lady was a townie and felt awful - but I sent her on her way and my kid and I got a shovel and buried the kitten. My kid shed a few tears and then was over it.

Some people rush out to immediately replace the dead animal, probably in an effort to distract themselves or the kids, but I think that sends the wrong message - that everything can be replaced and therefore death doesn't matter.

authenticfarm wrote:The trick, though, is to retain the idea that all life has value, while still teaching them that death is a part of life.

Case in point, two or three years ago, a visitor ran over one of our kittens. The lady was trying to shield my daughter as I picked up the cat's lifeless body - the poor lady was a townie and felt awful - but I sent her on her way and my kid and I got a shovel and buried the kitten. My kid shed a few tears and then was over it.

Some people rush out to immediately replace the dead animal, probably in an effort to distract themselves or the kids, but I think that sends the wrong message - that everything can be replaced and therefore death doesn't matter.

Well said. An appreciation of all life is key, and something so many in this new generation (even mine) have forgotten.

authenticfarm wrote:
Some people rush out to immediately replace the dead animal,

My parents never had to do that. My childhood dog is 40 years old and still going strong.

Life really is precious, but as you say, with life comes death. Each handles it differently, and as a parent (of seven) I certainly understand how much variation there is. Each death, whether human or animal, makes us appreciate the living so much more.
Back to my story. I am certainly hoping it has a happy ending, but only time will tell. This morning we decided to take the remaining two eggs away and put together a makeshift incubator and see if they would hatch on their own. Within minutes of taking them away from the nest both had pipped, like they were saying "thank you! Now we are safe and get to the business of hatching." I thankfully had a small styrofoam cooler, and a small brooder light, and a thermometre and hygrometre from the children's homeschooling weather set. So the little ones were quickly set up with heat and humidity, and are pipping away happily. I put a hot water bottle under, and hung a wet washcloth over the side. Having never incubated before, but done lots of reading, and really stuck with how all those items work together, have the temperature at 90 degrees and the humidity is 70%. The chantecler, who pipped second, is one quarter away around, peeping away, and the ameraucana, who was noisier and poked through first, is still working on the original little hole. I really hope they are fighters, and the hatch succeeds, but I would rather try and fail than just let her crush them, with no chance at all. I'm wondering if my first broody hen, who now has 3 chicks with her born on the weekend, will accept these newcomers, and when I should try. She is a sweetie, never pecks, has let us handle her, eggs, and chicks with no problems, though of course doing the customary fluff up, and even showed appreciation when I babysat so she could release a long-awaited poop. I certainly don't trust the chantecler with chicks, and it would be a lot easier to have only one pen for chicks than two, though in a couple weeks I will have to have more for the next hatches. Well, thanks for listening, and will keep you posted.

I would say if you but them under her in the dark of night, she'd take well to them, but each hen is different. If they just wake up with more, they tend to think nothing of it. My one bantam I sold would take chicks every day, all day as long as she was puffy and clucky.

My Chantecler's are excellent, if not incredibly vicious, mothers. An (I think) older Chanty I bought at auction last year maniacally fought for her babies and there was no getting within 10 feet of them she was so protective. She did very well. Something I am going to try to breed for is good mothering skills without being overly broody.

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So far so good ! The white chantecler has hatched and is peeping like crazy and hugging the ameraucana egg, only going quiet when the ameraucana answers. Soooo cute. It puts its little wing over the hatching egg like they are going to be best buddies - one black (or silver - not sure) and one white. The ameraucana has acutally sped up its pipping with the other one encouraging it.

LOL I think he was hinting that the dogs have been replaced but the parents never said so.

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I agree Higgins, That is, unless they end up released by my property, then they end up with some sucker willing to give them a new home.

Back to topic ; the ameraucana has hatched . It is struggling a bit more, but is on its feet. The chantecler is fluffing up and doing fine. Now to wait and hope that they are healthy, and in a day or so, ready to join the others. And to join the topic-within-a-topic, we have a cat that turns 14 next week, and a dog (husky cross) that lived to 15.

Does it ever end. Just came in from burying our precious and only hatched mille fleur d'uccle, accidentally stepped on by its mother while keeping up with her two busy bigger chicks. Maybe keeping bantams with standards works for others, but I am never doing that again. They come in the house, should we be fortunate enough to hatch any more some day. The tears just flow.