Broody chicken left her egg

[LittleMaiden]

Hi there! First time hatcher and whatnot. Our bantam only has one egg underneath her and its day 17. This is only the second time she's left her egg(first at day 7 or so) and I'm worried about it. I'm not sure how long she was away for but as soon as I noticed she was gone, I picked her up and put her back. Will the egg be okay?? I have no backup incubation if she decides she's done being broody I'm terrified

 

[black_fleet]

It's sad when it happens, but one of my buff orphingtons abandoned a nest of twelve or so eggs around the same time last week. I will say two black stars I have that were broody last month would get up from time to time to eat and drink each day, maybe thirty minutes to an hour each session, and they had successful hatches. It is also fairly hot here in the day though, so I'd imagine that helps too. In any case, I hope your hen carries it through to the finishing line. Good luck!

Edit: You could candle the egg and see what's up if she is still off of it. I've read online that if the egg doesn't make it sometimes they know and will get up or kick the egg out of the nest.

 

[TwoChicksChix]

There are a lot of factors as to why a chicken might get off her egg. Chickens take about a 30min-1 hour break daily in order to eat and drink, though they might take short breaks more often if they need more water to keep the humidity up.

If it’s particularly hot, she might be getting up so she doesn’t overcook the egg, they are able to tell when the chick is too hot because by day 17-18 they start to communicate with the babies.

I say give her a chance, most chickens know what they’re doing.

 

[LittleMaiden]

Thank you both so much! I keep telling myself that nature knows what it's doing but it's hard since the mind likes to wander. I feel bad about picking her up and putting her back now. She instantly settled though so hopefully that's a good sign. I candled the egg but it didn't really tell me much. I don't know what an alive or dead egg looks like on day 17.

 

[TwoChicksChix]

At day 17 the egg is mostly going to be full of the chick, it will be hard to see anything. At this point, there isn’t much to do but wait and see if it hatches.

 

[black_fleet]

At day 17 the egg is mostly going to be full of the chick, it will be hard to see anything. At this point, there isn’t much to do but wait and see if it hatches.

That's true, need more coffee lol

 

[TwoChicksChix]

Lol the egg won’t hatch for a few more days so you have time. Don’t worry about the coffee till day 21

 

[LittleMaiden]

At day 17 the egg is mostly going to be full of the chick, it will be hard to see anything. At this point, there isn’t much to do but wait and see if it hatches.

Yes, just wanted to check if there was any glaring signs of death that I've heard of. Going to be 4 painful days of waiting