Broody buff orpington off nest in summer temperatures

[joesgirljeri]

What exactly does this mean. Have you given her more eggs?
A dozen eggs is a lot for a hen to cover especially if she's scratched out a nest down to a hard base. I would remove 6 eggs if there are a dozen.

No, I took those eggs from her as the others laid them, and then put 8 fertilized ones under her all at once.

 

[janiedoe]

picked her up and put her on cold eggs hoping for the best. I still got hatches out of those cold eggs...I think about 50% to 60%....amazing for being stone cold at least half a day.

@Lady of McCamley I'm curious if you had more than average females in that hatch? I've read that females are more likely to survive cooler temperatures.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

picked her up and put her on cold eggs hoping for the best. I still got hatches out of those cold eggs...I think about 50% to 60%....amazing for being stone cold at least half a day.

@Lady of McCamley I'm curious if you had more than average females in that hatch? I've read that females are more likely to survive cooler temperatures.

I'm trying to remember....I've had many hatch years with broodies....but I know that I have been running straight 50/50 for the last 3 years, and that happened within the last 3 years.

I've heard temp makes a difference, but I haven't seen it personally.

LofMc

 

[Shadrach]

No, I took those eggs from her as the others laid them, and then put 8 fertilized ones under her all at once.

Ah, I see. I got a bit lost with whose eggs and how many.

 

[Shadrach]

A Buff Orpington can easily cover 12 eggs. A bantam Cochin is better with 6, if full size eggs.

Many hens have hatched broods as large as 18 to 20, though I don't recommend that.

I use my full size hens for larger broods and my bantams for smaller broods. I personally have one hen that I successfully set 8 to 10 eggs, and she always hatches 110%...one more than I've set. She is a very sneaky hen with an excellent wing tuck.

So full size hens are very capable of a dozen eggs. Now hatching them depends on their technique. And that means sitting on the eggs. Which being distracted and constantly off the nest won't do.

Lofmc

I'm so glad she has settled. Candle in a few days to see how the eggs are doing. You should see about half dark egg with large air cell at one end by day 12 to 14. The eggs may be a little slower to hatch, so don't panic if they hatch on day 22.

I have had decent hatches even in less than ideal situations. (I once found a broody hen mistakenly let out into the yard run and blocked from her nest. I picked her up and put her back on her nest...only to find that evening I had put the WRONG unbroody hen on the nest and left the real brooding hen (an identical sister) out in the run who had settled to nest in a corner after being blocked from her nest. I picked her up and put her on cold eggs hoping for the best. I still got hatches out of those cold eggs...I think about 50% to 60%....amazing for being stone cold at least half a day.

LofMc

I think we have a rather different view of chickens and in particular broody hens.
I'm curios and perhaps you can explain this to me. Why do you, and many others recommend candling eggs? It's not as if you can do anything about those that don't develop.
I agree given the right sort of nest most hens, including bantams can cover a dozen eggs and hatch healthy chicks. Why I mentioned the condition of the nest in my post above where I suggested limiting to six eggs is because often on hard based nest the hen can't control a dozen or more eggs.
I wrote an article about it.
There has been some fascinating studies on egg incubation recently. This was the study that many of the later studies were founded on. It's a bit of a must read for anyone incubating eggs either with a hen, or in an incubator.
The chapter headed Egg Turning, Egg Position, and ventilation is particularly relevant.
http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S1516-635X2016000600001&script=sci_arttext
What struck me in this article and those who have carried out further research is the accuracy with which a hen can position her eggs. This of course requires conditions whereby she can control these optimal positions.
Further studies based on the above suggest that the position of the egg and the number of turns the hen gives an egg are critical to the embryo development; the first week was given in the article above as a critical stage and later studies have narrowed this down to the first three days.
In my article there is a picture off a hen trying to control her body position relative to her eggs position on a hard based nest.
In part my point is, messing about with the eggs, slipping other eggs under a broody who may already have positioned one set, taking them out and handling them, candling them, exposing them to hostile environments et etc, may not be such a great idea.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I think we have a rather different view of chickens and in particular broody hens.
I'm curios and perhaps you can explain this to me. Why do you, and many others recommend candling eggs? It's not as if you can do anything about those that don't develop.
I agree given the right sort of nest most hens, including bantams can cover a dozen eggs and hatch healthy chicks. Why I mentioned the condition of the nest in my post above where I suggested limiting to six eggs is because often on hard based nest the hen can't control a dozen or more eggs.
I wrote an article about it.
There has been some fascinating studies on egg incubation recently. This was the study that many of the later studies were founded on. It's a bit of a must read for anyone incubating eggs either with a hen, or in an incubator.
The chapter headed Egg Turning, Egg Position, and ventilation is particularly relevant.
http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S1516-635X2016000600001&script=sci_arttext
What struck me in this article and those who have carried out further research is the accuracy with which a hen can position her eggs. This of course requires conditions whereby she can control these optimal positions.
Further studies based on the above suggest that the position of the egg and the number of turns the hen gives an egg are critical to the embryo development; the first week was given in the article above as a critical stage and later studies have narrowed this down to the first three days.
In my article there is a picture off a hen trying to control her body position relative to her eggs position on a hard based nest.
In part my point is, messing about with the eggs, slipping other eggs under a broody who may already have positioned one set, taking them out and handling them, candling them, exposing them to hostile environments et etc, may not be such a great idea.

I'm a bit confused... the OP never stated hard nest, which would be a concern for eggs rolling, but even so, I've had hens sit on hard wood and still get good hatches. Their choice, not mine. However, again the idea of a hard wood nest, in my mind, was never an issue. It was a distracted hen.

I agree over handling of eggs can be counterproductive. If you've ever seen any of my broody posts, I personally don't recommend a lot of egg candling as over handling can interfere with things, especially the final couple of days to hatch and during hatch.

However, there are certain times it is very useful. One of those instances is when you have had eggs possibly stunted or killed by abandonment or interruption, especially eggs you've purchased or of special value. Candling can be very useful to see if things are still progressing or if it is time to give up on those eggs. If development has stopped, you need to know that as soon as possible. You still have time to pull the bad eggs and replace with newly purchased fertile eggs or have time to collect from the right breeding pair. Hens generally are instinctively programmed to sit for 5 weeks, give or take. If you figure out you've got duds a week or two into the brood, you can procure more fertile eggs and start again generally with good success. Since you can't force a hen to go broody, you have to work with the broody on their timing, so wasting a brood is to be avoided. It is quite possible the OP placed eggs a bit too early, and now the hen is into a solid brood after having removed distractions.

Thank you for your articles. Science is always so interesting. I like to read them, but then I always feel chagrined as my hens don't tend to read the articles and do a lot of what they just do, which is why I think they seem to break the rules, and amazingly things do work out when you don't think they should, and don't work out when you do think they should. There is a lot of "give and take" in the process and a lot of factors that play into things. Over the last 10 years, after carefully selecting for hens that are good at brooding and a flock that integrates and supports broody hens, I've learned to take my cues more from the hens.

LofMc

 

[joesgirljeri]

I'm so glad she has settled. Candle in a few days to see how the eggs are doing. You should see about half dark egg with large air cell at one end by day 12 to 14. The eggs may be a little slower to hatch, so don't panic if they hatch on day 22.

I have had decent hatches even in less than ideal situations. (I once found a broody hen mistakenly let out into the yard run and blocked from her nest. I picked her up and put her back on her nest...only to find that evening I had put the WRONG unbroody hen on the nest and left the real brooding hen (an identical sister) out in the run who had settled to nest in a corner after being blocked from her nest. I picked her up and put her on cold eggs hoping for the best. I still got hatches out of those cold eggs...I think about 50% to 60%....amazing for being stone cold at least half a day.

LofMc

So today is 'day 21' from when we got the eggs, but I think they're almost a week behind the schedule (based on what we could see when we candled them) because of all of Lola's futzing around the first few days. Actually, at this point I'm almost praying they're a week behind because we're gone for the weekend and I would hate for my kids to miss it!

Careful candling today showed an egg that looked 'full', still some veins on the edges, a defined air cell, but nothing that l thought looked like a blood line.

 

[aart]

we're gone for the weekend and I would hate for my kids to miss it!

They won't be able to see much....not like in an incubator...best ot leave broody alone near hatch day.

Careful candling today showed an egg that looked 'full', still some veins on the edges, a defined air cell, but nothing that l thought looked like a blood line.

It could be this is the only still viable embryo....time will tell.

 

[joesgirljeri]

Two eggs hatched yesterday! And then we had 2 dead chicks in the coop today. I hate to think that she killed them on purpose, but both had been pecked. There are 5 eggs left.