Hatching abandoned eggs without an incubator

So I had gotten a barred rock hen this February who went broody last month at 5 months old. I was really surprised but I thought I'd watch her and see how she did. She was off in the bushes but we found her spot and were kind of monitoring her.

She laid eighteen eggs of her own (had two guinea eggs also). That girl was patient!

The other day I was driving home and saw her with a couple black balls of fluff out on the road. I counted four babies. Four babies out of twenty eggs is a horrible hatch rate so I went to check her nest.

There was a dead baby with dried membrane all over it at the edge of the nest. It had ants and flies on it so from what I could guess, she had hatched it out a few days prior and today was the day she decided she was done sitting next to the dead body and took her other 4 out.

And then I saw there was an egg that had been pipped so I picked it up. It was totally cold (or, as cold as it could be in 90ish weather, but definitely too cold). And then it peeped at me!

I took it into the house and set it in a small bin with some sawdust on the "warm spot" on my range. I have a propane range and there are two pilot lights between the burners underneath the metal top. They create hot spots that help me keep baby chicks warm (without electricity). In a pinch I can remove the grates that I set pots onto and put a bin or pan there on the hot spot and it warms it up nicely as long as I have a buffer of sawdust or something. I brooded 6 orphans earlier this spring that way.

Anyway so I set the egg onto the sawdust. And then I realized... she had twenty eggs. Five babies (one dead) and I had just grabbed that one egg.

So I ran back out to the nest and grabbed all the eggs. Candled them and found that some were infertile and showed no development, two others were pipped, and the rest showed fully developed babies. But all the eggs were cold. She had left them probably that morning, so at least 10 hours.

So of course I grabbed all the eggs that had development, and put them in the bin.

That first baby zipped out of it's shell almost as soon as it got warmed back up. Three days later, I ended up with a total of five live babies. I had two eggs that never did anything, and one that died in the shell after pipping. I think it ended up TOO close to the hot spot and got overhot

Anyway I have to say I was really surprised. I mean I kinda expected to be able to hatch the ones that had already pipped but several days later I had more. And I've had enough chickens to know that usually they only hatch over maybe 3 days or so and I'm positive that she hadn't left the nest too early (the babies with her looked fluffy and alert, like 2-days old at the very LEAST).

So not sure why she had such a weird hatch. Maybe because her eggs were smallish still, or maybe just inexperience and maybe she left the nest too often. By my estimate, her first baby probably hatched about 6 days before the last one did. The babies had two possible fathers, although I don't think that's the issue since I can tell by the looks of the baby who it's father is and all of her babies have the same father as the very last egg that hatched.

Anyway - just thought I'd share. The moral of this story being, of course, that this "temp & humidity" requirements really should be more like guidelines. I mean - I always knew that they were, because it isn't like hens are 100% correct about humidity and temperatures, but never would I have thought I could finish the last three days of incubation on a warm spot of unknown temperature, just kinda going by feel. And now you know! Just in case anyone comes up against this situation. If you're also off grid, a rechargeable hand warmer works great as a warm spot for brooding just a few chicks and I bet it would work great for helping them hatch too.

Since I had a few eggs that didn't hatch and I'm pretty sure it was due to the warm spot being TOO warm sometimes I probably wouldn't do this unless I absolutely HAD to. But it's still good info to have.

Hi Bethany,

Many times young and old hens will leave the nest too early, or even not early enough.  By this I mean that if they have unhatched eggs that will not hatch for whatever reason, they will stay on the next and the chicks will hop out after a couple of days feeling the instinct to feed and drink.  This is a problem if she does not go with them and start taking them in.

Other times one hen will push another hen out and try to finish the hatching, but not having started the set herself, her timing is off and she might leave before all the eggs have hatched.    I had an olive egger  that started this after she was older.  She was very dominant and pushy and would push a broody hen off her set and then as soon as one or two chicks hatched, she would take them out too early and leave the other eggs.  She was also terrible at showing her chicks how to use the ramp into the coop and would lose some night if I wasn't there to put them in.  

A good mother hen is a wonderful thing.  My mixed breed hens are the best mothers.  I've had problems with pure bred broody hens not really knowing what to do.

Congrats on saving those five.  I like to check eggs that a broody hen has left also, just in case.  

Great post Bethany!  I too, have been in a similar situation when one of the mama hens decided to kill her new born chicks as and when they were hatching - go figure!  Anyway, I saved one of the newly hatched chicks and took the rest of the eggs in the kitchen.  I wrapped them in a thick woolly jumper on top of a hot water bottle and near the range.  For 2 weeks I was the proud mother of 4 chicks and oh boy, what a delight it was!  They definitely thought I was their mama and every night they made such a racket and would not go to sleep until I picked them up, put them in an old woolly hat, sat down on the sofa and put the hat on my chest.  They would then gently come out, mess about for 10 minutes, making gentle noises, settle down around my neck under my hair and calm down.  After half an hour, I could gently put them back in the hat and back in their hot water bed and not hear them again till the morning.  Around about the same time, another hen had hatched 10 new chicks and I knew her to be an excellent mother, so one night I slipped my "babies" under her.  She never noticed.  For a long time afterwards, two of them still came on my shoulders at feeding time and tried to nestle under my hair, except that by then they were fully grown chickens!.

I keep a wire sided dog carrier (maybe 5'x3 1/2'x2 1/2') in the chicken coop. Whenever a hen goes broody, I put her in the cage with some hay for a nest and water and feed. If she settles down and sets, I collect eggs from the other chickens to put under the broody hen. That way all the eggs pretty much hatch at the same time, and the hen can't leave the nest for food or drink (they generally eat and drink very little) and then forget where the nest is. By caging her it also protects her from any predators. As soon as the chicks hatch, I take them from her, so they don't wander off or get stepped on. I have a large wood box we put in the house with a wire screen over top and a heat light. I put their food and water at one end of the box and the lamp at the other. Then the chicks can choose the most comfortable (heat wise) place to sit/rest. When they are big enough to regulate their own body temperature, we put them back out in the coop in the "dog" cage until they are big enough to care for themselves in the flock. Every time we use this method we get lots of chicks, most every time we don't there is poor result.

Well - an update on the chicks...

The first day or two they seemed a little slow and lethargic. I'm not sure why - overall they seemed healthy enough but they just slept a LOT. I went and got some electrolytes and probiotics for them and that seemed to perk them up fine. I suspect they were a little slow because of the cold hatching conditions.

AND what's funny is - two of my other hens went broody. One of them is a 7 year old hen that loves to sit on eggs but will absolutely not take any orphans in (though I did try, but she rejected them). And the other was my new Silkie that I got at the same time as their original mother. I swear seeing baby chicks makes their broody hormones go in, because this isn't the first time some of my hens have gone broody about 5 or 6 days after chicks appear.

Anyway - the Silkie is a very gentle hen and I had a great silkie proody previousy, so they are outside in a crate with her. She keeps alternately trying to escape to run back to her nest spot, and then mothering the chicks. I hope in a few days she will settle in completely to mother them, since I don't really want to do it myself! My kids love having the babies around though.

Olga - that's exactly what my daughter does! She will walk around with chicks in the hood of her sweatshirt. Actually I think that's partly why the silkie I mentioned is so gentle and sweet - because she spent the first few months being toted around in barbie cars and sweatshirt hoods. (No, I'm not kidding about the barbie car 😂)

Thanks for the update, Bethany. It's great to hear that they survived!  I never had a Barbie car so I could not tell you if it would have made a difference with mine
Bad joke apart, let us know how they get on.

Olga Booker wrote:Thanks for the update, Bethany. It's great to hear that they survived!  I never had a Barbie car so I could not tell you if it would have made a difference with mine
Bad joke apart, let us know how they get on.

I think I've actually got a picture floating around here somewhere, I'll post it if I find it 😂

Anyway - the silkie has finally settled in as their mother. She's not quite as attentive as I suspect she would be if things had progressed normally, and it took a few weeks before she really bonded all the way with them, but if I kept her locked in the broody coop with them, she'd take care of them and keep them warm. If I let her out, she'd at first go back to her brooding spot, and then when she finally became "un-broody" she'd still just go walking around and not really notice the babies weren't around. I think the babies themselves also had lost some of their "follow mama" instinct because the first few days of their life were spent with humans.

I just let them out today after a full week of confinement and I'm happy to say she has completely taken on the job as their mother - she hangs around them and doesn't try to go to the normal roosting spot, but tonight she came back with them into the broody coop like I'd hoped. And they have seemed to regain the "follow mama" instinct and start pitching fits really loudly if she goes out of sight. I'm glad she's now nesting with them,  because our weather took an abrupt turn for the colder side... and now my OTHER broody hen (the 7YO) has eggs that will be hatching in about a week. She's not the most attentive mother... so we will see if those babies survive.

Actually now that I think about it, the good news is, she was a great "auntie" until she became mama. So even when she was not broody (laying eggs even) she still allowed them to snuggle up with her at night, and took care of them, showing them the ropes. I love silkies for this reason. My mom had one and she did the same, you could give her babies and even if she didn't go into full mama mode, she'd still let them snuggle under her to keep warm and she wouldn't be mean and aggressive like some hens are to random chicks.

Good news!  Thanks for the update Bethany.

Last night, no crack in egg, only peeping and tapping. Mama no longer willing to sit on nest, no hatchmates. Knew chick death was certain without intervention. Brought egg inside house. Placed on towels on bottom of shower enclosure. Added red heat lamp, and a humidifer (i use it for cold/flu season) in the stall. Rested open umbrella 30 or so inches above the bottom to 1) control heat and humidity from escaping while 2) the slight tilt of the umbrella would create a small, natural circulation of air. Added prayers and hope. Welcomed fully hatched Finley 18 hours later. Been raising, hatching chickens naturally, no incubators, for 8 years. Never had this experience, but happy this worked out in emergency with resources we all probably have at home. Will get Finley a few same age companions in a day or so. I tell those who ask, farming/homesteading is the most rewarding, yet heartbreaking at times, commitment one can make. It will make the weakest strong, and the strongest weak, each in the best of ways.

Nice info
On monday evening this week,my brown big hen hatched but on tuesday morning
I found she had hatched 4 out of 10 eggs
I constrained her back on the eggs with a cage but she pulled out still
Wondering how i can hatch the six since they have spent over 20 hours cold

@ Thaddeus - Have you candled the remaining eggs? Have they internally or externally pipped? Is there any movement on candling?

Mom may have left them for a reason - she'd rather care successfully for 4 chicks, than have the live ones die because she's glued to the nest.
Magic hatched four chicks on the weekend, but seemed hesitant to leave the nest. I reached under and found the two remaining eggs. No sign of pipping, so I candled - they were duds. Removing them got her to pay more attention to the 4 live ones, and they're looking great.

I have 2 duck eggs under my chicken. She hatched her 5 chics yesterday and now is up not really sitting on the duck eggs. I habe 6 days left in these duck eggs and no incubator! Please help. Can I put them under a heating pad? What else should I do?!

Tina, I really wished you'd asked this question a few days ago. It's totally normal that once a bird has hatched a bunch of chicks, that they will move from that nest, abandoning anything that's left.
We'd have had a few days to plan for the inevitable, so now you're not only going to have to scramble, but you'll have to monitor the temperate *really* closely. Any incubator will tell you to get it running and monitor it for 2-4 days before adding eggs. Too hot and you'll kill the egg, cool for too long and you'll also loose them.

So, Question 1: What type/breed of duck?

Question 2: How cold, for how long did the eggs get before you warmed them up again?

Question 3: Have you tried candling them? A small flashlight with a bit of old rubber inner tube around the top so it can "shape" to the egg is all that's needed.  (see the pictures here:  https://permies.com/t/136969/Hatch-Long#1076336  ) At a week pre-hatch you should see a lot of "black" and ideally watch long enough to see a little movement, but don't shake or even turn the egg too much - this is the time for light, gentle movement on your part.

I know of people who've made incubators out of aquariums and insulated picnic coolers. You need 37.5°C (99.5°F) and it needs to be consistent. You need some humidity, but not too much. I've managed to hatch Khaki Campbell ducklings with the humidity a bit higher, but for Muscovy I added no extra moisture at all (so it averaged about 40% according to the incubator) until pipping and was successful. When they pipped, I'd just wet my fingers and fling a little of the moisture onto the egg twice a day.

Despite needing heat, they do need some air exchange, but with only two eggs it shouldn't be much. Picnic coolers are intended to seal but just rotating the eggs a quarter turn 4 times a day until lock-down will do the job. Date for lock-down depends on the breed.

Lastly, you need to decide how you're going to deal with the ducklings after they hatch. Two is not critical mass for ducklings. They will imprint on you. They'll be *very* dependent on you. Mallard domestics make a *lot* of mess - they need water and they will spread it everywhere. I currently am mom to 3 Muscovy and they're not nearly as bad in the mess department, but they need regular cuddle time which is difficult at this busy time of year. So you just need to be sure you are prepared to go that far. (Trying to type with 3 ducklings squirming between my vest and my shirt is a unique experience. I admit they're too cute for words!)

I love this thread!  I'm pretty new to hatching "au naturel" (definitely has been some trial and errors) so no incubator but do have a heat lamp and a large metal wash tub.   My hen hatched 6 out of 11 eggs.  I saw that 5 had been abandoned after about a full day, they were cold so I put them in a bucket to dispose of later... didn't even bother candling them (which I can't seem to get the hang of)  Hours later I came out and there was a peeping coming out of the bucket.... yikes!  I chekced all the eggs, one had a peeper so I put it in the tub with pine shavings and a heat lamp and then scrambled to read on-line what to do about this situation.   This post gives me hope that MAYBE we'll have another chick to add to the little flock of babies.... I'll keep you guys posted.   I did add a damp washcloth but pretty much winging it here!  No puns were harmed in the posting of this message.

Cynthia Down wrote:  I checked all the eggs, one had a peeper so I put it in the tub with pine shavings and a heat lamp and then scrambled to read on-line what to do about this situation.   This post gives me hope that MAYBE we'll have another chick to add to the little flock of babies.... I'll keep you guys posted.

There is hope, but mom is not likely going to accept the late-comer, thus your odds of it ending up human-imprinted is high. There are people who keep "House Chickens" which at least are pets with benefits, but it may never learn to speak "chicken" or understand chicken "non-verbal communication" unless you try to get it where it can see other chickens really quickly. In fact when I had to raise some incubated Khaki ducklings, I recorded the adult noises on my phone and played it to them before they even hatched and continued after hatch and got them out to the field to a run where they could hear and watch the adults as soon as possible. The few number of hatchlings, the greater the risk, so an only chick may have to be a "pet" no matter how hard you try. That doesn't mean you shouldn't try - just that you need to plan what to do if things don't go the way we'd all like them to.

You might want to follow the link I posted above about candling. I tend to only candle if I'm unsure of fertility and in chickens 4-5 days is a good time to see blood vessels forming, (Pekin ducks 6-7 days, and Muscovy eggs 7 or even 8 days as they take 5 weeks to hatch). Since I mostly use real moms to hatch things, if I do decide I need to incubate some eggs to see if they're fertile, I'm usually crossing my fingers that a Mom will go broody and I can tuck the warm eggs under her to finish the job! However, we had a *really bad* heatwave, which can kill partially developed eggs. I had two moms on eggs and I wasn't willing to risk them all being dead and not giving them new eggs right away. I carefully tried to reach under BWD, but she left the nest. Making all sorts of reassuring mouth noises that I'm sure she couldn't translate to duck,  I quickly candled all the eggs and found 2 duds, but 9 that had movement. I put everything back and left her area and within 5 minutes was back glued to her nest. This was several weeks ago, and this morning she brought 9 tiny Muscovy ducklings out of that nest and they're moved to a portable shelter and doing just fine. So if you ever get a chance to visit someone with an incubator, learning to candle is a worthwhile skill even if one's goal is to use it as infrequently as possible. Personally, a bright light hurts my eyes even with them closed, so shining one into an egg just doesn't seem like something I want to do without a good reason. However, a disappointed mom is really sad to see also - it's a balance!

From everything I’ve read, all
the chicks that hatch within 1 to 2 days is
it. She will then wander to teach them to eat. Makes sense if the can live off of their yoll for two days. After that they start eating. So she has to serve their needs.