Broody Hen Thread!

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I'm pretty sure these are the Wyandottes. Silver or Gold, not sure yet!
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How long will she continue to sit on the nest? I want to check to see if they all hatched but also don't want to disturb her as she's been quite 'flighty' through this whole hatching process.
 
New chicks are still absorbing nutrients from the last of their yolks so they can go 48 hours, sometimes even longer before they have to eat. If you set all your eggs at the same time, mom will leave the nest when she is sure that all the eggs that are going to hatch, hatch or until the needs of the new babies force her to take them to food and water. If you have left over eggs at that time that haven't hatched, candle and if they are viable you can put them in an incubator to give them a little more time to see if they will hatch. You can then reunite the babies with their mom and siblings as soon as they dry. Some wait until night and slip the babies under mom.
 
Thanks Micro, I am fairly sure all the eggs should hatch around the same time. We were advised to remove any that were layed after that and marked them all with an X . I guess I just wondered... if one doesn't make it, will she continue to sit on it? or will she instinctively realise it is dead and give up?
 
carternm31 said:
Thanks Micro, I am fairly sure all the eggs should hatch around the same time. We were advised to remove any that were layed after that and marked them all with an X . I guess I just wondered... if one doesn't make it, will she continue to sit on it? or will she instinctively realise it is dead and give up?
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It's one of those times where the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. She will abandon unhatched eggs when the new babies make it clear to her that they are hungry or thirsty. One of my hens upon her first stint as a broody abandoned 2 eggs about two plus days after her first chicks had hatched. They were still viable. Cheeping, pipped, etc. I brought them inside and put them in a cheepo incubator I had bought for such an emergency and sure enough, 24 hours later I had two more chicks that I returned to mom.

On the other end of the scale. My last broody abandoned 5 eggs after 48 hours. I gave them another 48 hrs in the incubator, pronounced them non-viable and did egg-topsies on them. 1 was a dud and the other 4 had died in shell about day 18-19. Mom knew. Probably no cheeping, no movement in the eggs and the new babies needed her attention.

Like the old saying, if I get it right. 1 live chick is worth 3 in the shell.
 

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