can a broody hen hatch eggs this time of year??

[curtishannah]

I live in n.c and it drops down to 45 at night?

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

A good broody can hatch this time of year, yes. Her body heat will maintain the temperature for incubation and then for keeping the chicks warm.

 

[curtishannah]

Ty

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

I currently have a hen sitting on 2 eggs, and our temp is about the same (though we've already had nights in the high 30s!). In the past I've had hens sit and hatch while they're was snow on the ground!

 

[Aggie54]

My broody lets the eggs get cold, when she leaves the nest for too long. Will she do better in warmer weather or is she never going to be able to hatch the eggs?

 

[Ravennest]

When do you notice that you will find these eggs out of her 'heating area' is it in the morning or afternoon?

We have been watching our broody doing the same thing. We started to mark the egg and date them with pencils. It turns out that when they push them out of her setting area she was doing a few things. The 'bad' eggs she was tossing; for whatever reason, she decided to toss these and refused them no matter how often or where I put them back in the nest. When they are 'pushed' three days in a row - we throw them out. We put a fake wooden egg under her to make sure she was doing it for a 'reason' even if we don't know what that reason was. She tossed the wooden egg out without fail each time. One of the oldest ones she literally broke the egg and put it completely on the other side of the kennel- making very clear that she did not want it in the nest.

She puts some eggs out her 'heat area' which cools them, we read around and found that eggs that get cool will slow down the growth of the chick. It didn't kill them. We candled them to check and saw movement. Since some of the eggs were laid after she started to sit; it appears that she is trying to slow the older eggs up a bit to let the others to 'catch up'. We could tell this by the dates. So we put them back in the clutch just before she came back in from her break. Then watched her as she arranged them then sat.

She has 16 eggs under her, but this comes with her tossing about 9 for various reasons. Its winter here and this was quite the pleasant surprise. We kind of figured that if they want to or if they choose to we let them do what they do and we watch and learn. Mama's instinct has kicked in...we just make sure she has her breaks and exercise morning (first crow) and afternoon about 3 pm- at this time we have a brooder lamp that goes on and the kennel is wrapped to keep out drafts during this time, treats, water, and privacy.

Its been 23 degrees here at night and we just had some snow....So far so good.

 

[Aggie54]

I am not able to keep her in a heated place and she doesn't seem to realize the eggs get cold when she leaves for an hour or more. The egg I checked appeared to have started developing but, was just all liquid after 3+weeks. She insists on sitting, even with no eggs under her...I guess I will let her try again in the spring and see if she's successful. thanks!