Broody hen getting kicked off eggs. Will they hatch?

[myfester]

I have a broody hen who's been sitting on eggs for about 3 weeks now. Sometimes, the other gals come in and kick her off eggs so they can lay more (I have original ones marked, so I can take fresh laid eggs daily). The thing is, when they finish and leave, broody mama is now sitting in another nest box and doesn't move back to her eggs unless I pick her up and show her. So some days, they may be sitting a few hours uncovered. It's been in the 80's mostly here. Is it possible they'll still hatch? 90 percent of the day, they are sat on. I'm not sure if I should be hopeful or not

Thanks,
Laura

 

[ozarkmomma]

They should be fine. This happens at my coop too. Sometimes they play musical nests and a different hen will be on the nest later.

 

[chooks4life]

Yeah, they should be fine, I had some left to freeze overnight most nights in winter and they hatched. I've also played 'musical eggs' like what's happening with yours. (I'd only discovered later on that the hen was leaving the nest every night, and I'd been very ill so couldn't actually get out there to remedy it often). But they were fine.

However being turned nonstop can twist the cords that hold the yolk in place and kill the embryos. Also you would do best to have her and the eggs secluded to prevent any nasty surprise incidents that occur if they hatch sooner than you expected. I have had eggs (whose brood start dates I recorded) hatch in 14 days. I'm careful, I mark the eggs and keep track, so that was quite a surprise! But, slightly more commonly, they can hatch from around 17 days onwards, though 21 days is by far the most common time. It depends on many things including breed.

I think the eggs are (if healthy) quite able to go into a suspended state even at later development stages, and be completely cold, without harm, as long as the chick's not yet started hatching. In my experience, anyway. I t may be of use to put a small bird cage with no bottom over the hen to get the others used to not laying there. But you'd have to supply her food and drink which isn't too wise on a nest, and the bird cage thing might be best done very close to the hatch date. Best wishes.

 

[myfester]

Thank you for the reassurance

. I thought they'd be done for, for sure! I do have her in a dog crate with her eggs, but I've been leaving it open because broody mama doesn't like to poop near her eggs. She gets very stressed out if she can't get off them once or twice to go out and poop. Plus we had some very, very hot days, and even though I have a fan to circulate air in the coop, I wanted her to be able to leave the coop if survival instinct told her that she needed to get out of there. I didn't pay for the eggs under her, so it's no financial loss. I just hated the thought of bringing babies brought to term then find out they didn't develop normally and have them be...well...handicapped in some way. hehehe. Tomorrow will be 21 days sitting, so I guess we'll know within a week if all is good.

 

[CAjerseychick]

This is really helpful info thanx all-- have a similar situation with rotating hens and a egg clutch moved then recombined etc... But thanx.... its is good to know there is some hope left ...

 

[chooks4life]

Best wishes, hope you hear some peeping and rustling and tapping tomorrow.

On that note, sometimes when eggs have been let to go cold a bunch of times, they hatch later. While they're cold they're not developing at any comparable rate if at all so they are set back by as long as they were cold for. Don't stress if you hear nothing tomorrow, they may be catching up.

 

[myfester]

Well, a bit of good news! 2 hatched yesterday and one is pipping today! Whoo hoo!!!

Mama hen is thrilled too. She loves being a mommy and is so good at it. She's already teaching her babies to eat their crumble and drink water...and she doesn't even need to leave her eggs to do it. (Although I carried her outside so she'd poop...it's been over 24 hrs!)

Thanks for the confidence!

 

[chooks4life]

Good to hear! Thanks for the update. Chooks are quite tough birds, often pays to give them a chance to make it even when the odds and some experts say it's impossible or incredibly unlikely.

 

[gimmie birdies]

you did good! you marked them and took away the new eggs. the other hens keep the eggs warm as they lay.

 

[myfester]

I'm really surprised they were still all viable. Especially since all you hear is that it needs to be kept at perfect temp, perfect humidity, etc,....and almost everyday, these eggs were left for AT LEAST an hour unattended. So far, I'm up to 3 babies and 1 beak (4th egg just started pipping a little bit ago.

..yippee!)...2 eggs to go. The best is that they are all mutts...so the fun is trying to figure out who the baby mama, and baby daddy are (I have 3 roosters...polish, silkie and bantam cochin....hens: buff orpington, black australorp, barred plymouth rocks, and polish). As of now, 2 babies are feather footed, one clean legged.

And yeah, this year, I got smart and marked them the first and second day (with a "1" and "2") that she went broody, so I knew that all the 'extras' I'd find in the nest were mine to eat.