Confused broody hen

[Jenny421]

I have a broody hen and twice she’s gotten confused and started laying on eggs in the wrong nesting box. I found her laying on the new eggs and her old eggs were cold. I finally stuck her in a corner with her eggs and she’s been sitting on them since, but I’m wondering if they will hatch since she was off them for hours a couple times.

 

[RubelliteRose]

How warm are your temperatures? My broodys stayed off the nest for over an hour each day, but our temps were mid to high 90s and the heat index was often over 100 so plenty of humidity. Every egg that was fertile (and not broken ) ended up hatching.
Can you try candling next time she is off the nest?

 

[MommyGirl]

They may still be good I had a broody that stopped sitting in the middle of hatch for a whole day so I put a different hen on them and still hatched

 

[Jenny421]

How warm are your temperatures? My broodys stayed off the nest for over an hour each day, but our temps were mid to high 90s and the heat index was often over 100 so plenty of humidity. Every egg that was fertile (and not broken ) ended up hatching.
Can you try candling next time she is off the nest?

We are in GA and it’s been hot, but I wasn’t sure how long she could be off her eggs and they still hatch. I tried candling them, but I’m not exactly sure what I’m doing. Lol! This is the second set of eggs we’ve hatched so I’m not too sure what I’m looking for.

 

[RubelliteRose]

My broodys were the second time I hatched too

I used these pages and tried to compare my eggs to the pictures:
https://www.brinsea.com/brochures/EggCandling.pdf good pictures of quitters
https://www.raising-happy-chickens.com/hatching-chicken-eggs.html days 1-7
https://www.raising-happy-chickens.com/hatching-chickens.html days 8-13
https://www.raising-happy-chickens.com/hatching-chicks.html days 14-19

Of course, both times I was hatching mostly blue, olive or dark brown eggs, so mostly I had to squint, guess and pray that they were developing normally
What kind of eggs are you trying to hatch?

 

[Jenny421]

My broodys were the second time I hatched too

I used these pages and tried to compare my eggs to the pictures:
https://www.brinsea.com/brochures/EggCandling.pdf good pictures of quitters
https://www.raising-happy-chickens.com/hatching-chicken-eggs.html days 1-7
https://www.raising-happy-chickens.com/hatching-chickens.html days 8-13
https://www.raising-happy-chickens.com/hatching-chicks.html days 14-19

Of course, both times I was hatching mostly blue, olive or dark brown eggs, so mostly I had to squint, guess and pray that they were developing normally
What kind of eggs are you trying to hatch?

Thanks! I’ll check those out. I’ve seen pictures online, but I definitely don’t see what the pictures look like. I’m going to try again when it’s super dark out and try a different flashlight. They are brown eggs. I’m not sure which hens they are from, as all ours lay brown eggs. I think all the pictures I’ve seen must be white eggs.

 

[Cryss]

I posted my candling video in my thread “How long can a hen leave eggs”. I did it in my windowless laundry room. Try a closet if that could be darker. I used my cell phone flashlight, well actually my hubby’s while I used mine to make the video. It worked pretty good. I candled blue eggs and light brown. I didn’t try the dark chocolate brown Marans eggs yet I’ll try those when they’re a bit further along. Have a look and see if it would work for you.

Ps: (I’m hoping someone checks my video out for some feedback on viability)

 

[Jenny421]

I posted my candling video in my thread “How long can a hen leave eggs”. I did it in my windowless laundry room. Try a closet if that could be darker. I used my cell phone flashlight, well actually my hubby’s while I used mine to make the video. It worked pretty good. I candled blue eggs and light brown. I didn’t try the dark chocolate brown Marans eggs yet I’ll try those when they’re a bit further along. Have a look and see if it would work for you.

Ps: (I’m hoping someone checks my video out for some feedback on viability)

Thanks! I’ll check it out. I think we are close to lock down phase for these eggs, so I’ve decided not to candle them for now. They should all be hatching by this weekend.