[ellied]

OK, the one chick is fine and healthy as posted last week it's now a week old.

Yesterday the broody showed the first signs of wanting out off the eggs so I let her out for a stretch but it turned out the chick had somehow got out a tiny gap and was under the coop.  After much effort both were caught and for safety, plus given nearly 5 weeks the hen had sat, I decided enough was enough and moved her and the chick to the bigger pen since it was 6 days from the one hatched chick.

Went to clear out the rest of the eggs and found one had been trying to hatch, must have been the last egg laid by the other hen, but tho I tried and tried to get it back under the hen, with other eggs, without, she kept chucking it and the wee thing died before breaking out the egg.  Not having an incubator I wasn't sure I could do anything but keep trying to pop it back under, but I guess moving had traumatised it, her, both perhaps.

Today she and the chick are fine in the new place and I checked the rest of the eggs, all gone cold and abandoned.  3 more were dead at various stages of development, ie 5 of 6 from the other hen from the egg colourings, and all her own had obviously been duds.  But given she was unexpectedly careful and loyal sitting all that time, any idea why the rest died before maturity?  If first and last got to hatching intact why not the in between 3?  One was pretty small, but two were almost egg filling size, maybe only 2-3 days short of mature.  She was fed, watered, given grit and she sat all but maybe 10-15 minutes of an evening when she would come out squawking and in a hurry for a dustbath, the evening corn, a drink, and go back.  She also had food, water and grit in with her after the chick hatched, but wasn't off the nest at all the last week - I had to poop scoop when she was eating.

I clearly made a mistake moving them but honestly thought nothing else would come of the eggs and when the chick got mobile enough to escape I thought they were better off shifted.  I feel terrible that the last one might have lived if I'd not moved them but just put the chick back and blocked its exit point more securely, but the others didn't make it that far and before any others start sitting I'd like to have a better idea.  For sure if one starts, I'll be shifting it immediately to a more secure area so all the eggs are her own and the last one dated..  What else could I have done if anything?  I can't afford to buy an incubator right now and that would have presumably been the best thing for the half hatched one when she wouldn't take it back, I don't have an aga with a warming oven either..

[doganjo]

Hadn't she been sitting an awful long time though?  Once the chick was there that I found she'd have expected the others to be quick behind it and when they didn't appear she wouldn't have been so firm on sitting.  Also the eggs were being laid over a period of time so you had no idea how old they were or when she started sitting.  If you see another one going broody, remove all eggs from under her, mark some fresh ones and put them under her.  Keep her in a place all on her own with food and water nearby but not right next to her, so she is forced to take a little exercise and poo away from the nest. 
You might have saved the second one if you had helped it hatch, but then again you might not have. Perhaps the rest were deformed or very small and Mother Nature decided they shouldn't come out into the wicked world. 

[Fanackapan]

I hatched chicks under my 2 silkies last year. 
12 eggs ( bought from my poultry supplier), 7 hatched which I think is an acceptable level. There was 1 marans chick nearly out of the shell, just the membrane to break but by the time I found it , the chick had died. I figured if it was meant to be , one of the silkies would have helped it.
As said nature can be harsh but sometimes knows best, an opinion I have heard is ,if the chick is not strong enough to make its way out of the shell it would probably not be strong enough to survive long anyway.
I don't know what your broody is but have to say my silkies were excellent mothers, sharing the work load from day one.

[HesterF]

I too am surprised that she continued to sit for that long. Under natural conditions she would have laid her own batch then they'd all have started to develop at the same time and would be expected to hatch over no more than a 48 hour period. So if they weren't hatching after that, I'd have expected her to abandon - particularly as a six day old chick wants to be out and running around (or at least mine are). So maybe she wasn't quite as dedicated in those last few days as you thought? As for problems with hatching, you can help if she's happy at your fiddling around with her eggs but once she's stopped being broody, there's nothing you can do except transfer to the incubator. I have helped out quite a few duckling and chicks this year but mostly in the incubator (and far more successfully in the incubator - the ones under the broodies tended to either make it out under their own steam - or with her help - or not be destined to live).

As Doganjo says, next time you'd be best making sure she starts with all the eggs simultaneously - you can't expect her to be able to cope with chicks hatching over a week long period.

H