what to do with a failed brood

[Sussex19]

Thanks for all of your advice. I am looking for some chicks in the area. How young do they need to be to transfer successfully? Would 2 or 3 day old chicks work? Of course people don't post on craigslist saying they're going to have chicks in a few days

2 or 3 day olds should be fine.
But for the best success rate you wouldn't want to go any older than that.
I have done ones that were 3 weeks old once, (not recommended) and it went well.

 

[K0k0shka]

If the eggs broke under her and she ate them, you would know. There would be a tell tale wet spot, which would take a long time to dry since she's sitting on it, and even when it dries, it leaves the nest bedding material matted and sticky. Especially if such a large number of eggs broke over a short period of time, there's no way the bedding would look the same after that. So if you didn't find any signs, chances are the eggs didn't break. It is possible that she moved them out of the nest because she deemed them unfit for some reason (hens can carry and move eggs around, sometimes overcoming obstacles along the way we wouldn't think possible!)

If their shells are weak and you're having a hard time getting them enough calcium, try offering crushed eggshells instead of oyster shell. Chickens prefer eggshells, they are more natural and familiar to them. Some chickens will eat oyster shell just fine, others will only tolerate it because there's nothing else, and yet others hate it and will not eat it. But they all like eggshells. So try feeding their shells back to them in addition to the layer feed.

I agree with others about getting her chicks instead of letting her brood twice. How old, and whether she'll accept them, really depends - on her, as well as on the chicks. They need to be young and inactive enough to be able to stay under her for the first few days, which is what hens will do at the beginning with new chicks. So if the chicks are old enough to be rowdy and want to come out often, she may get frustrated and peck them to go back under, causing conflict. Weather also plays a role. If it's cold out, they'll want to stay under her longer, so less conflict, but if they are already a few days old and it's warm out, they'll want to spend longer out from under her. Disagreement like that can jeopardize her accepting them. The hen's personality plays a big role, too. Some hens will adopt chicks of any age, tennis balls, kittens, anything really, yet others will murder day old chicks for no reason at all. If you haven't introduced chicks to this hen before, do it carefully and stay with her for a while to make sure she accepts them, and even if she does, always have a back up plan (brooder ready) if she changes her mind. And be emotionally prepared for murder, because that happens, too. Good luck!

 

[Rehoboth]

Chicken math struck. We intended to buy 4 chicks, and somehow ended up with 16, including 4 silkies, bc my daughter wanted silkies and the others were on sale for 50 cents! It's a cold night here in western PA, so hopefully that will work out ok. We're keeping a close eye, and also have a heating pad (what's the fancy word??) in the coop with them. So far it looks like the hen does chicken math too, and is ok with 16 chicks from 4 eggs!