A heat wave is coming in next week and I have 3 broodies!

[talkinboutchickens]

Hi!
I currently have 3 broodies....
1 black Australorp, Phyllis, who hatched chicks last year
1 white Plymouth rock, Rose, who also hatched chicks along with Phyllis (they co-parented)
And a light brahma named Dottie who is brand new at this.

A heat wave is coming to my area, it's going to be about 95 on next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and the high eighties the rest of this week.
We have all the windows open in each coop but it is still hot in both coops!
And Dottie the light brahma is not heat hardy and she is refusing to drink. She is so stubborn! Is there any other way I can keep them cool??
Plus, some eggs are different ages than the others, I'm very worried that if those older guys hatch then the hen will continue to incubate those other young eggs until they hatch so she will stay in there with the chicks for a long time until the rest hatch.
What do you suggest? What should I do with the young eggs? Just leave them?

Thank you!

 

[talkinboutchickens]

I forgot to mention that I have the super young eggs under the heat lamp with my chicks because I would hate to let them sit and die. If I put them under the broodies then I will lose track of the eggs because they all look the same and I will never know who the young eggs are. I don't know if I want to incubate them, my family members are already stressed and frustrated about the eggs under the broodies because we already have 12 alive chicks that hatched almost a week ago. Do you have any suggestions about anything previously mentioned in this post?
Thank you so much.

 

[SweetieChicken234]

It's been into the triple digits here for weeks. Few days ago was 109. My broody is a Wyandotte I'm Florida!! Talk about not a bird meant for heat. She is stubborn to eat and drink too but all I could do was take her out of the nest a few times a day and keep offering food and water. I kept the coop door open to help with keeping a breeze. She came out on her own when it got too hot.

 

[wrathsfarm]

I'm in Michigan so not extreme heat regularly, but in extreme heat.. I use fans, one to exhaust hot air from coop, one to intake fresh air into coop. And if I see hens panting in the nest box (hot box) I will face a fan towards them, set on low and oscillate if that's an option. And fresh water available of course.

Warning!! ....((use caution here with this next tip))
I've also frozen water bottles and bury them in the nest box bedding along the sides. I place these so they are not in direct contact with the hens and buried in bedding. My nest boxes are bigger than most at least 14" lxwxh. I'm saying use CAUTION here to avoid shocking their system by suddenly laying on ice in heat. I place one in each box along a side in deep bedding to give them the option of moving closer or away (like chicks with a heat lamp).....think of it like you want to 'cool the bedding'.

**Disclaimer ensues !! **
I've tried to be as thorough as possible with my explanation. If this is questionable here... don't do it, I take all responsibility with my own hens, no one else's.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

Just leave them be and let them do their thing or break them. I've had broodies sit it temps much higher than that and they were fine (they've been chickening a lot longer than we have). Even if you don't see them come out, they are. As far as your staggered hatch, once the broody feels all the eggs are hatched that will hatch, she will abandon the rest to take care of her chicks (next time mark them with a sharpie) Not trying to be harsh, just breaking it down. And on a side note, I'm one to let nature take its course, I don't generally intervene.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

She came out on her own when it got too hot.

Yep, they know what they're doing

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Honestly, be prepared for a small hatch. When it starts getting too hot, my hens generally accidentally cook their eggs while sitting

 

[Es_In_Miami]

If you have power in the coop, add a small swamp cooler. Not only will it circulate the air, but the water in the reservoir cools the air as the water flows through the unit. Keep the reservoir full.

 

[NatJ]

I forgot to mention that I have the super young eggs under the heat lamp with my chicks because I would hate to let them sit and die. If I put them under the broodies then I will lose track of the eggs because they all look the same and I will never know who the young eggs are. I don't know if I want to incubate them, my family members are already stressed and frustrated about the eggs under the broodies because we already have 12 alive chicks that hatched almost a week ago. Do you have any suggestions about anything previously mentioned in this post?

Several suggestions. Use all, some, or none, depending on what sounds helpful to you:

Use a pencil or crayon to mark eggs so you can keep track of them. The markings will wear off a bit with time, so make it something big and obvious, that you can recognize even when it gets faint or half of it disappears. Large letters or numbers can work well, or a circle all the way around the egg (long way vs. short way vs. both if you need to mark three groups of eggs.)

Do not start any more eggs incubating, at least until you get these sorted out and hatched. Fertile eggs do not have to be hatched. You can just eat them. If they have not been incubated, there will not be any visible chick inside them, and using them will be just like using any other egg.

Candle your eggs to get an idea of how developed they are, label them so you know which group is which, and sort which ones are under which broodies. Give the most developed eggs to the broody who has been sitting longest. Discard any eggs that do not show development if they have been under a hen for at least a week (compare with a freshly-laid egg or an egg that has not been incubated, to see what 'no development" looks like.)

For the young eggs, mark them too, then stick them under whichever broody has the youngest eggs. After 4-5 more days, candle those eggs again and discard any that are not developing.

For future, you can collect eggs for up to a week and then start them all incubating on the same day (under a broody or in an incubator). That way they will all hatch about the same time. Just let them sit somewhere safe in your house while you are collecting them, NOT under a heat lamp. They can just sit with no development if they are at the right temperature (between about 40 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit is the "right" temperature for storing eggs before you incubate them.)

I see several people have already commented on the hot weather with broody hens, and I have nothing to add there.

 

[talkinboutchickens]

Just leave them be and let them do their thing or break them. I've had broodies sit it temps much higher than that and they were fine (they've been chickening a lot longer than we have). Even if you don't see them come out, they are. As far as your staggered hatch, once the broody feels all the eggs are hatched that will hatch, she will abandon the rest to take care of her chicks (next time mark them with a sharpie) Not trying to be harsh, just breaking it down. And on a side note, I'm one to let nature take its course, I don't generally intervene.

Yes I marked all with a pencil, I'm not sure about the sharpie because wouldn't the ink leak into the egg?