Broody disaster, need advice...

[affacat]

We have a broody in our broody coop sitting on about 10 eggs. She ejected two eggs from her clutch about a week ago. Today is day 24 and we were wondering why they haven't hatched yet. We went in and checked on her and it's clear one of the eggs must have broken or exploded and the entire area reeks. All of the other eggs have goop on them and smell.

I did my best to scoop out any gunk and we gave her new bedding.

Should we give her another day on the smelly eggs or is this a lost cause? She clearly wants to be a momma.

We also have some eggs incubating so we could completely clean the area, toss the other eggs, and give her new ones

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Have you candled the remaining eggs? If not, then candle them to see if any are alive.

Check your broody. See if she has any of the foul gunk under her, in her feathers, etc. I'd clean her up, but doing so may break her broodiness, but you surely don't want the nasty stuff on her, it will attract flies and it would be miserable to have that on feathers/skin as well.

How much longer before the eggs in the incubator hatch? You can always give her those if she's in good condition.

 

[affacat]

We haven't candled the eggs as it's daytime. We could bring them in to a dark room I suppose. I assume it will be very easy to tell if they're alive? We've never candled such late stage eggs.

How do you recommend cleaning her? She is definitely stinky. Dip her in warm soapy water?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Taking the eggs to a darkened room will help you candle them. You should be able to tell if they are still alive or not.

Poor hen. Yes, for me, I'd give her a cleanup in warm soapy water. This may break her broodiness, you never know, but for me, I'd still want to give her a cleanup even if that were to happen.

You have an incubator, so even if she breaks, I assume you can brood chicks on your own in a brooder.

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

If it's definitely day 24 then those eggs are not alive. Sorry! Clean her up and give her eggs from the incubator would be my best advice. Maybe leave some in the incubator just in case, so you can give her live day-old chicks (slipped under her at nighttime) if anything else goes wrong.

 

[affacat]

Whoops, wrong thread. Anyway, update, our momma is very happy with ten baby chicks we bought her from the store.

 

[BastyPutt]

Whoops, wrong thread. Anyway, update, our momma is very happy with ten baby chicks we bought her from the store.

Hahahaha! What a plot twist!

Thank you for the fun update. Sorry about the eggs.