broody hen moved off the eggs - now what?

[Gonda]

I'm new to the broody hen business. I have a broody hen that has been sitting on eggs for almost a week. Now I came home and found her sitting in a different nest on the eggs that were laid today by the other hens. I have no idea how long she's been off the eggs. Is it too late for the eggs she was sitting on? Should I put her back on yet? The eggs are cold. I assume she went on the other nest within the last few hours, after the hens laid their eggs this morning. I was going to move her into an enclosed space, but that space is occupied by another hen with her 4 chicks still. And this hen seemed to be staying put so nicely. I guess I learned.

And, if it's too late, I guess we wouldn't want to eat those eggs anymore? I assume the chicks were developing already.

 

[raimnel]

stuff her back in her nest with her eggs, mine did the same thing one day cause there was anther hen in her nest while she was eating.

Time will tell, candle in a couple days

good luck

and EEEWWW I would not eat those eggs!

 

[Gonda]

I did put her back on the eggs in the nest, and she stayed put. I didn't want to risk her leaving again, so I then prepared a nest in a separate area and moved the eggs and the hen. I would have had to move her to lower ground eventually anyway. She seemed to settle OK again. I've read a few other posts on the subject of hens leaving their eggs and the eggs going cold, and some people seem to have had varying degrees of success. Two weeks to go. We'll see what happens.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

That is one of the primary reasons for isolating a broody hen. If they're left with other hens they will often get interrupted & shoved off their nest, and/or get lost on their way back from their coffee break and return to set in another nest box. It's a good thing she was so agreeable to setting in the new location, some hens won't tolerate any sort of change during their set. You could go ahead and swap out those eggs for new fertile ones, or candle them now and check for further development in 5-7 days. Or just wait another 2 weeks and see if they'll hatch. If they don't, you might be successful in swapping out those eggs for new, fresh fertile ones.

I read a post from someone who candles the eggs in his incubator after a week and goes ahead and eats the ones that never began to develop. You could check the eggs by candling, or by breaking them one by one into a separate dish. Ones who began to develop will have definite growth, webbing of veins, a distince little blob to see. The clear ones should be fine to eat, if you dare.

 

[Gonda]

Seven of the chicks hatched!! I candled the eggs about 5 days after the hen was off the nest and saw life in 6 of them, out of 8 eggs (my first time candling). One had a large peck hole in it and I saw no life in that one so I discarded that one. And one I wasn't sure of so I put the 7 back under the mom and they all hatched. One died the day after, and the remaining 6 are doing well. One egg had a crack in it as a result of me lifting the hen off the nest because she wasn't eating or drinking after I put her in an enclosure (the egg came up with mom and dropped). The egg with the crack did hatch too. I'm not sure if that was the one that died. One had trouble hatching, was struggling to get out of the membrane (the shell was off the egg, just the membrane remaining and the little beak had come through the membrane but it couldn't get its body out) and I helped a bit by tearing the membrane a bit further. So I suspect that was the one that died, but am not sure.

This was my second experience with hatching eggs with a broody hen - encountered several challenges this round that I hadn't experienced the first time, so I'm very pleased that I have 6 chicks.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

That's a great hatch rate, 7 out of 7! It may be difficult to know just why the 7th chick died, Stuff Happens routinely in even the best of situations. We'll have to add this to our collective lore about Eggs Under Broody Hens. They can grow cold and still hatch later!

Edited to add: That's a great photo of them, all the little chickies looking so attentively at Mom's face, asking "Now what Mommy?"

 

[richmelandgirls]

so glad to hear that all 7 hatched. We are new to chickens (and loving every second of it!) We have had our hens and one rooster since July of 2009 ( they are almost one year old We have a broody chicken who has been sitting on a clutch of eggs in the nest box now for 5-7 days (not sure exactly which day it started as we had never had a broody chicken before and it took us a few days to realize what was going on).) Anyways we are going to attempt to move her and her eggs tomorrow night into a pen and impromptu brooder house we have put together... was worried about moving her, and then read your post.
What an encouragement to see that adorable pic of momma chick and babies!!!! We (being the newbies that we are) did not realize that other hens would lay in the box when she got up to drink-stretch-and poo.... she is now sitting on 12 to 14 eggs (my daughters have counted different #'s) Salt (our chicken) has gotten up for brief times each day and one day got confused and sat in another nest box... so we are not even sure that they stayed warm. all that to say that I have no idea if any will hatch or not. But after reading your post I figure what do we have to loose? And more important maybe if we are blessed we might gain some new baby chicks)) So thanks for your post- it helped me see that we should wait and see what happens in 16 days (give or take a day or 2

 

[Candili]

Seven of the chicks hatched!! I candled the eggs about 5 days after the hen was off the nest and saw life in 6 of them, out of 8 eggs (my first time candling). One had a large peck hole in it and I saw no life in that one so I discarded that one. And one I wasn't sure of so I put the 7 back under the mom and they all hatched. One died the day after, and the remaining 6 are doing well. One egg had a crack in it as a result of me lifting the hen off the nest because she wasn't eating or drinking after I put her in an enclosure (the egg came up with mom and dropped). The egg with the crack did hatch too. I'm not sure if that was the one that died. One had trouble hatching, was struggling to get out of the membrane (the shell was off the egg, just the membrane remaining and the little beak had come through the membrane but it couldn't get its body out) and I helped a bit by tearing the membrane a bit further. So I suspect that was the one that died, but am not sure.

This was my second experience with hatching eggs with a broody hen - encountered several challenges this round that I hadn't experienced the first time, so I'm very pleased that I have 6 chicks.

Never "help out" the hatching egg. They will always die and or be very weak and gradually die. It is the same with helping a butterfly from.a cocoon. They will never fly and die. The struggle obviously is important in the process.

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

I'm new to the broody hen business. I have a broody hen that has been sitting on eggs for almost a week. Now I came home and found her sitting in a different nest on the eggs that were laid today by the other hens. I have no idea how long she's been off the eggs. Is it too late for the eggs she was sitting on? Should I put her back on yet? The eggs are cold. I assume she went on the other nest within the last few hours, after the hens laid their eggs this morning. I was going to move her into an enclosed space, but that space is occupied by another hen with her 4 chicks still. And this hen seemed to be staying put so nicely. I guess I learned.

And, if it's too late, I guess we wouldn't want to eat those eggs anymore? I assume the chicks were developing already.

Incubator time.

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

Never "help out" the hatching egg. They will always die and or be very weak and gradually die. It is the same with helping a butterfly from.a cocoon. They will never fly and die. The struggle obviously is important in the process.

This is wrong. I helped a bird hatch last week, after I was sure the veins had receded and it was ready, and the chick is a bit of a runt, but is doing well and growing and thriving with their siblings.