Broody hen saving a lost bird’s fertile eggs

[Backyardtut]

I lost my favorite hen to a hawk yesterday. While searching for her, I found a nest of her eggs. I don’t know how long they have been there, but there are 8 eggs. I have a broody hen and would like to know if I can put Dolly’s (lost hen) eggs under Lolita (broody). Dolly was my favorite chicken and I miss her so much, I am hoping Lolita can hatch one of Dolly’s eggs so I can have at least one of Dolly’s chicks. I wasn’t planning on letting Lolita hatch any babies, but with everything that’s happened, I would reconsider if it would bring a little Dolly back to the flock.



Please let me know your thoughts and the possibility of this working on eggs that may or may not be old.

 

[fluffycrow]

I say go for it

 

[Yardmom]

Give it a try. If you want to candle you can see how large the air cell is to see if they were laid recently. After a week candle and see if they are started. If they are not started move to plan be of fresh eggs or breaking the broody.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Im sorry you lost your dear Dolly. I agree with @Yardmom that it would be best to candle the eggs Before you give them to your broody. Along with very large air cells, another sign of a bad/rotten egg would be if any part of the egg looks very dark/black upon candling. If you want us to look at the candled eggs, post the photos here. You don't want to have a rotten egg explode under your broody and contaminate the viable eggs/growing embryos. But yes, go for it! Be cautiously optimistic that at least some will hatch, while guarding yourself from disappointment if they do not. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain if some cute little Dollys hatch out 3 weeks from now.

 

[Backyardtut]

I went ahead and put the eggs under Lolita, I did not candle them but will do so in a week to see if they’ve started. She went broody 2 days ago, I’m not sure how many eggs she was sitting on prior to the 8 I gave her. If Dollys eggs are viable, would they take longer to hatch and if so, will Lolita stay to hatch them or abandon them once her chicks arrive?

This is my first time with a broody hen so I have no idea what to expect.

I appreciate y’all’s responses and advice!

 

[Backyardtut]

Dolly

Dolly’s egg stash in an abandoned house

Lolita (Lola for short) with Dollys eggs.

She had them all tucked underneath her when I checked on her tonight. Now we wait

 

[Perris]

Can you tell the difference between Dolly's eggs and Lolita's by looking? shell colour or shape for example? If so, I'd remove any that aren't Dolly's in order to avoid a staggered hatch, and maximize the chances of Dolly's eggs being successfully incubated and hatched.

 

[Backyardtut]

I also want to note that I didn’t mean to ignore the advice to candle BEFORE putting them under Lolita, I got excited with the encouragement from the first poster and put them under before seeing the rest I will try to candle tomorrow when/ if she leaves the nest and post photos.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

The eggs your broody has sat on for 2 days will hatch 2 days earlier than Dolly's eggs, and yes your broody will be forced to abandon Dolly's eggs to tend to the early hatched chicks. You can have an artificial incubator ready to go at that point if you choose to go that route.

Since Dolly's eggs are very important to you, I would pull the eggs your broody was sitting on, leaving her with only Dolly's. However, unless you have an idea how old the 8 eggs are, there is a risk that one or more eggs will turn rotten and explode under your broody. That only happened to a broody hen once, before I understood how important it is candle eggs. It happened 7 years ago, It was the most disgusting thing ever, and I've made sure it never happened again. Dolly's eggs are beautiful, and hope you have a successful hatch.

 

[Perris]

Also, on the eggs possibly being old, something similar to what happened there yesterday (commiserations on the loss of Dolly ) happened here last year, and I did what you're doing, though with eggs I'd collected rather than found, and all dated. The only one that didn't hatch was the freshest one.

Those eggs look fresh and clean and I wouldn't candle myself, at least not until there might be something to see, as you originally suggested. Exploding rotten eggs are extremely rare.