Are my eggs OK?

[Hannahg1001]

I have a hen who has started being Broody for about a week now. I had marked all four of the eggs that she was laying on so that way, I would know which eggs needed to stay in her box. She had been doing really good and I keep water and feed for her, in her own little box. But I went outside today and noticed that she was off of the four eggs that she has been laying on and was instead laying in a different box on two other eggs. i’m worried that the four eggs that she had been sitting on are not OK. I took all the extra eggs up other than the four that she was laying on, and moved her back onto those. Is there anyway that I can check and make sure that those eggs are ok? I know she was laying on them yesterday. So it’s been less than a 24 hour period that she’s been off of them. Although it has been getting cold where I live and I’m worried that they may not have survived if she wasn’t sitting on them all night last night or potentially even earlier this morning

 

[ChickenChick46]

You should be able to candle them if they're about a week in. I don't have experience with it, but there are lots of threads on here about it, including some good info on the current Spooky Hatch-Along thread. @redinator and @ella2025 are both hatching right now and may be able to help.

 

[AshVau22]

You can candle them and check for movement. If they did die they'll have a death ring. All the blood will pull into one area making a ring around the egg. If alive they'll be visible veins and a flutter moving inside.

 

[AshVau22]

I either use my small bright flashlight or my cellphone light

**A dark area makes it much easier to see

 

[redinator]

https://thehomesteadingrd.com/candling-chicken-eggs-day-by-day/

This the guide I use when candling eggs. It has good detailed photos of day to day embryo development and describes what to look for in eggs that aren't developing properly.

Here's the link to the hatch along if you're interested: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...een-hatch-along.1676425/page-29#post-28862506

 

[Ridgerunner]

A lot of us go through things like this. If she was off overnight you could have a problem. If she was on them until this morning you should not have any problems because of this. You can candle them now if you wish to get a baseline but I would not do anything rash like tossing them now. I'd see what stage of development they are in now and candle them in about a week to see if you see any development. I'd hate to toss a perfectly good egg.

I've had this happen before. A hen was on the wrong nest and her eggs felt ice cold. I put her back on the eggs and she eventually hatched 11 chicks out of 11 eggs. It is not a good thing to happen but I do not consider it a certain death sentence.

What I've seen happen before is that a hen leaves her nest to go eat, drink, and poop and when she comes back another hen is on her nest laying an egg. Usually the broody climbs back up to the right nest and squeezes in but occasionally the broody goes to the wrong nest.

Good luck with the hatch. Let us know how it goes.