Broody hen fail

[smoon]

Hello,

I have a broody hen who has been sitting on a clutch of eggs for 10 days. They were developing normal as of last night. Today, much to my dismay, I found her sitting in the WRONG nestbox by accident. The eggs she had been sitting had gone cold. It is 60 degrees here today and I have no idea how long she was off of them, but it could have been several hours.

Are my eggs probably dead? Just curious if there is any hope

Thanks in advance.

 

[crazy4ChickensNducks]

Have you tried candeling them?
@Texas Kiki

 

[gimmie birdies]

prolly fine if you can get her back on them.

 

[Kiki]

There is plenty of hope.

Can you cage her with the eggs so she doesn't get lost again?

 

[chickens really]

Set her up in a separate pen with a nest and her eggs. She will settle and hatch them.

 

[smoon]

I tried setting her all up in a cage and she went completely bonkers trying to get out. Totally freaked her out. She would not sit. I will just sit her back in the original nest and hope for the best. I know at least two eggs are still alive! (And one appears to have died). Two more eggs I am unsure about. There is hope! Thank you all for the replies!

 

[gimmie birdies]

That was a bad idea- I was going to say hens don't like to be moved. And it is true. I currently have a broody hen on a nest she is super protective of, and I marked her eggs just incase another hen lays in the nest, and I remove any that were not marked. She is on 2 after they hatch, I will remove the chicks and give her diff eggs to hatch...

 

[as110]

I was just wondering about this. I have a broody that has been doing great in the coop, albeit when she gets off the nest to poop someone sneaks in there and lays an egg. She has been consistently sitting and protecting but a few times I saw her sit on the wrong nest because other hens took over and she couldn't get back. I removed the new eggs and the old ones were marked. A few days ago I was sure there were live eggs. The nest is a few feet off the ground so to get ready for the chicks I tried to move the nest with her. Today we should be close to hatching. I tried to move her with the nest into a protected corner where she can get off and others can't get in, but she went bat shit crazy and wouldn't sit on the nest. She tried to get out and back to the old nest. I let her do that so she could see the nest empty. She was surprised but she wanted to sit there so I gave her eggs back. Problem is, if anything hatches, the nest is too high for chicks. I guess I will have to play it by ear and watch for new chicks, and I will move them when they hatch.
I also have a bunch of eggs I put into the incubator in case she flops and the eggs cool down to much to die. These are eggs that other hens deposited over time and they are out of phase. Some were just starting up a few days ago, some were about 5 days old with spider veins and a small embryo. I plan to sneak them under her if her eggs don't make it. Today is day 22 and nothing hatched yet.

 

[Chelsea-85]

Candle the eggs then put the viable ones back under her in a separate nest. Hope they will be fine.

 

[gimmie birdies]

The chicks will stay under the mother for a couple of days They don't walk instantly. If you are really afraid they will fall out to the nest, tack a cardboard cover over the face of the nest just after the hatch. Prepare a place the hen can raise her babies alone for a while.