Broody Hen Off Nest a Lot

[MadChickenMama]

How long were they in the incubator before you gave them to her?

Let's see, I started them on a Monday, the hen went broody that next Thursday, the weekend came and went, then the 2nd weekend came and that's when I gave them to her. So they'd been in the incubator for almost 2 weeks.

Their physical development seems normal, but their air cells are behind the rest. Unless I run the air conditioner all day or get a dehumidifier my house gets fairly humid as I live in NC towards the southeast. And it's too expensive to run the a/c since I don't have central air.

 

[BirdGirl2004]

I've had this broody hen at my house sitting on 3 eggs since Saturday night. She has gotten off the eggs very few times and barely eaten anything, until today.

I finally had to fill up her food dish this morning cuz it was pretty low. Put food in it on Saturday evening when I moved her here. She did eat a scrambled egg I made her as I was worried she wasn't eating enough. But now she ate all that I gave her this morning and I had to fill the dish again. Then she's also eaten everything that she'd spilled her first night here.

Almost every time I peek through the crack in the door I see her off the nest. Not to mention she was off for good ess knows how long this morning. It was cooler in the room she's in than normal so the eggs were very cool to the touch.

She's also finally pooped like she should have been doing. Before she was barely pooping anything and now twice today she has pooped huge amounts, which I feel is a good thing.

But she just keeps eating. I though broody hens got off the nest once a day.

I'm a little worried about her constantly getting up and down as she stays off for a while. Would that constant temp fluctuation have any affect on the chicks? They're due on Monday.

I feel like EVERY broody hen I have ever had does this to me. None of them have ever hatched... Its so disappointing!! She would get up during the day and sit for maybe an hour. She was very unreliable.... I'm sorry!

 

[MadChickenMama]

I feel like EVERY broody hen I have ever had does this to me. None of them have ever hatched... Its so disappointing!! She would get up during the day and sit for maybe an hour. She was very unreliable.... I'm sorry!

Aw man, yeah that's really frustrating. I think I'll always keep an incubator for just in case. Looking to possibly become a breeder.

 

[cmom]

I have had a broody that would only sit on one egg. When I put the others under her she would roll them out. I marked the eggs with numbers and discovered that she wasn't sitting on the same egg I thought she was. I had a broody that wouldn't get off of her eggs so I would take her off every day for several minutes and she would eat, drink and poop but immediately when I unblocked the nest she was right back on it. Some are more or less dedicated than others. Now I put the eggs I want to hatch in my incubator.

 

[cmom]

Surprisingly eggs can take some cool and hotter temperatures for a time. Candle and see if you see any movement. I have had some incidents in the past and one time I thought I had probably lost a hatch but to my surprise I candled and saw some movement in some eggs. I lost power during a winter night and when I checked the incubator the temperature was 78. I put the incubator on a power supply (battery with an inverter) and got the temperature back up and to my surprise I still had a very good hatch. I candled and saw movement so I knew some may survive.

 

[varidgerunner]

I just got done dunking a whole bunch of Dorking Austrolorp and GLW in water and chucking them in rabbit cages. 6 of them had a zero percent success rate. They are broody, but not broody enough to actually hatch eggs. Just enough to be annoying. Compared to my games that have had a near %100 success rate. Had some flooding is the only problem the games have had, but the one that lost a clutch is back on eggs. Never again on the crappy "heritage" breed broody hens, but that is what I said last time.

 

[MadChickenMama]

Surprisingly eggs can take some cool and hotter temperatures for a time. Candle and see if you see any movement. I have had some incidents in the past and one time I thought I had probably lost a hatch but to my surprise I candled and saw some movement in some eggs. I lost power during a winter night and when I checked the incubator the temperature was 78. I put the incubator on a power supply (battery with an inverter) and got the temperature back up and to my surprise I still had a very good hatch. I candled and saw movement so I knew some may survive.

Yeah I've read quite a few things where people had good luck with eggs that ended up being much cooler for several hours.

Seems like mostly it's dangerous fir the developing chicks if it's left like that for more than 24 hours. I was mostly concerned about the constant temp changes than them being cool for a few hours and I didn't want to have to constantly be checking on and bothering the hen.

All 3 had movement, just not as advanced air cells like the rest.

 

[varidgerunner]

The inside of the egg holds temperature quite well. My game hens will leave eggs for hours at a time on some days, and set tight on others. They know what the eggs need. Sometimes they set at night early on, if it is cold at night, even before the clutch is full. Birds that are not that smart, instinctive, or whatever, don't seem to have a clue.

 

[MadChickenMama]

The inside of the egg holds temperature quite well. My game hens will leave eggs for hours at a time on some days, and set tight on others. They know what the eggs need. Sometimes they set at night early on, if it is cold at night, even before the clutch is full. Birds that are not that smart, instinctive, or whatever, don't seem to have a clue.

I did notice that the eggs under the hens held heat way better. They were much warmer to the touch than the incubator eggs and then even after a minute or two (if for some reason candling took that long) they'd still be nice and warm, whereas the incubator eggs began cooling after a minute and weren't as warm to begin with. *But* I've had temp issues and they might be fixed but it seems no matter what thermometer I get they all seem to be off so I've got incubator set at 98.5*F, digital thermometer reads 100.2 and analog reads 98.

The chicks may be late, but I erred on late rather than accidentally cooking them.

 

[BirdGirl2004]

Aw man, yeah that's really frustrating. I think I'll always keep an incubator for just in case. Looking to possibly become a breeder.

yea thats a good idea. I think that I need to get an incubator!