Broody Chicken up for too long?

[gamefowl-layers]

Hello all. My chicken (like most) got up from her nest to stretch, drink, eat and sun bathe.

Here's the problem. I tried seperating her from the other hen and rooster (A trio) with chicken wire but she hopped over and didn't sit again until I moved the chicken wire. I want to assume the worst.

I arrived home at 4:30 pm and let's say she's been up from her nest since 9:00am. Are the embryos in the egg dead? It is almost an 8 hour gap. Once I removed the wire, she sat back in. I touched the eggs and they were cold. Average temperature here is 60-65 degrees. I don't want those eggs to go to waste. Any help? Thank you in advance

 

[JaeG]

If she'll go back on them let her and candle them about day 10 to see how they are doing. It's worth a shot and many times babies hatch out of eggs that were left for many hours to get cold. We have two broody bantams inside on eggs at the moment. I had to split them up when one morning I found one of them had left her eggs, stolen two of the other girls and settled in front of the others nest on those two eggs. My eggs were fine - no harm done. So it's worth trying.

Our eggs are just starting to hatch so I have been hovering around (we are first time chicken hatchers here) and I've noticed that our broodies still stand up and rearrange the eggs (even when one is peeping) - I actually thought one had managed to break two as they clunked together, but they seem fine. I had one with a peeping, pipping egg and she still got up and snatched a bite to eat and to relieve herself. In an incubator you would never dare open the lid if chicks are pipping! It seems they know what they are doing, yet if we tried the same thing it'd probably all go pear shaped.

I say it's worth a shot and I have read that even eggs left for 8 hours, like yours, survive.

Goodluck.

 

[gamefowl-layers]

If she'll go back on them let her and candle them about day 10 to see how they are doing.  It's worth a shot and many times babies hatch out of eggs that were left for many hours to get cold.  We have two broody bantams inside on eggs at the moment.  I had to split them up when one morning I found one of them had left her eggs, stolen two of the other girls and settled in front of the others nest on those two eggs.  My eggs were fine - no harm done.  So it's worth trying.

Our eggs are just starting to hatch so I have been hovering around (we are first time chicken hatchers here) and I've noticed that our broodies still stand up and rearrange the eggs (even when one is peeping) - I actually thought one had managed to break two as they clunked together, but they seem fine.  I had one with a peeping, pipping egg and she still got up and snatched a bite to eat and to relieve herself.  In an incubator you would never dare open the lid if chicks are pipping!  It seems they know what they are doing, yet if we tried the same thing it'd probably all go pear shaped.

I say it's worth a shot and I have read that even eggs left for 8 hours, like yours, survive.

Goodluck.

Thank you. That gives me at least a little hope. I'll candle them in 5 days. If I can see a shadow with some veins, that means it's good right? Or can it be misleading?

 

[JaeG]

Have a look through this site - it's been my bible as we've hatched under two broody bantams for the first time: raising-happy-chickens.com. Go up to 'hatching' then choose 'Day 1'. Down the bottom of that page you can go to 'Day 2' and so on. She has a picture of an egg she has candled every day of incubation, apart from when it went into lockdown. It's an invaluable site and shows you exactly what to look for. Good luck.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Don’t do anything dramatic until you are absolutely sure. I had a hen go back to the wrong nest once, I have no idea how long she was off those eggs. They were really cold to the touch but I put her back on the right nest. She hatched 11 out of 11 eggs. The outside cools off a lot faster than inside where the embryo is.

 

[gamefowl-layers]

Don’t do anything dramatic until you are absolutely sure. I had a hen go back to the wrong nest once, I have no idea how long she was off those eggs. They were really cold to the touch but I put her back on the right nest. She hatched 11 out of 11 eggs. The outside cools off a lot faster than inside where the embryo is.

Have a look through this site - it's been my bible as we've hatched under two broody bantams for the first time: raising-happy-chickens.com.  Go up to 'hatching' then choose 'Day 1'.  Down the bottom of that page you can go to 'Day 2' and so on.  She has a picture of an egg she has candled every day of incubation, apart from when it went into lockdown.  It's an invaluable site and shows you exactly what to look for.  Good luck.

Hello thank you for your response and thankfully all of them hatched. They are about 6-7 months old right now and they are all doing great.