Broody bantam

[swift4me]

I've got a little black hen that is fiercely broody. No problem, and I'm happy about it, but a couple questions.

I left her with 5 or 6 eggs to sit on, but one day when I thought there were more under her, I took two eggs, (just laid by another hen), and put them in the refrigerator for about three hours. When I saw that there weren't that many eggs under the broody hen, I put them back in her nest. Will 3 hours in the fridge screw things up?

I marked them with a pencil, so if need be, I can replace them with fresh ones, but as it is, all the eggs she is sitting on are from 3 days.

Also, her water is about ten feet from the boxes, and the feed is about three feet. I see her running out to drink, so I assume that is no problem.

Thanks for any help.

Pete

 

[gryeyes]

The cooled eggs will be just fine.

I hatched some chicks from Trader Joe's fertile eggs, which were refrigerated far longer!

 

[mulia24]

I've heard peoples hatching fridges eggs.. it seems that they're doing fine..

sorry I don't have such experience with eggs in fridge..

hope they will doing fine as not in fridge eggs.

 

[swift4me]

Thanks for the answers.

Now the next question. If I collect eggs over 4 or 5 days and put them in the fridge as I collect them... then put them under my hen all at once, will they hatch fairly close together, or over 4 or 5 days? Seems like the cold temps would put development on hold.

Just curious.

Pete

 

[gryeyes]

Collect the eggs as you plan, but store them on your kitchen counter, NOT in the fridge. No problem keeping them for up to a week, after that, fertility begins to drop off.

Put them in an egg carton and prop one end of it up on something so it's tilted. At least three times a day, move the carton so the other end of it is the high end. That suffices for "turning" (actually tilting) the eggs until you set them all together, either in an incubator or under a broody hen.