Broody Hen Thread!

[sonderah]

I know I'm probably driving everyone crazy! With my excitement. Like I already said I have been moving the golf ball... Well I put 2bd one in this morning before I left. She moved it on in and laid her 5 th egg plus her two golf balls. I was trying to research since she has old game in her and she was raised by her mom for a few days if that helps. I hope this works she's only got a few fertile eggs left.

I read A LOT of stuff on these forums, so I could be wrong, but I feel like u said ur rooster just died about a week ago??? If this is the case, she can stay fertile for like 3 weeks after.

 

[fisherlady]

Could I trouble you all for some help?

I have a broody hen who has been sitting on 11 eggs for 13 days.  This morning I went to check on her and found her pacing in an agitated state around her pen.  Three out of the eleven eggs were gone - smashed, and run all over the other eggs, presumably during the night.  I have no idea if the eggs exploded, or if she ate/destroyed them. The remaining eggs are now coated with set, rotten egg. They, and the nest, smells like death.

In a panic and not sure what to do, I quickly whipped the remaining eggs from the nest, pulled out the sodden hay, flung in some fresh hay and put the remaining eggs back into the nest.  I did not wipe them as the rotten egg had set on them, and I didn't want to do any more harm.

While I was doing this, Broody barged past me and into the main pen to be with the others.  She was eating like crazy, grumbling and tried to run for the door, which I blocked off!  (We have to do some health checks on our girls this morning, so no-one is allowed outside yet!)  Eventually she made her way back to the nest and sat on the eggs again.  How long she will stay there I don't know.

I was so excited, and now I feel nothing but bitter disappointment.  Is there any hope for the remaining eggs? Should I do/have done something differently? Any ideas on what happened here?  I am at a loss....

I guess if she leaves the nest there is nothing to be done about it.

- Krista

You did what you could given the sad circumstances...I'm sorry things have taken a bad turn. don't lose hope completely though, eggs break and contaminate nests on many broods, there may be some other eggs lost because of it but it isn't an absolute. Cleaning the nest for her and getting her quickly resettled gave her clutch the best shot at success. Hopefully she will stay the rest of the way without further problems!

 

[krista74]

Thank you for your support. At this point my poor Broody is still on the nest, but she looks really unsettled. Plus, the whole coop still stinks like rotten eggs! To be honest I wouldn't want to be in there either.....

Fingers crossed everything settles down. I am considering candling the eggs tonight when it gets dark, but am unsure what I should be seeing at 13/14 days. Ideas anyone?

Krista

 

[ochochicas]

Thank you for your support. At this point my poor Broody is still on the nest, but she looks really unsettled. Plus, the whole coop still stinks like rotten eggs! To be honest I wouldn't want to be in there either.....

Fingers crossed everything settles down. I am considering candling the eggs tonight when it gets dark, but am unsure what I should be seeing at 13/14 days. Ideas anyone?

Krista

If it were me I think I would wipe the eggs down with a warm, damp cloth. I would also candle them to hopefully avoid any more exploding. When you candle them you should be able to see through the egg on one end (the fat end) and the other end of the egg should be very dark or almost solid. If you can see light through the entire egg, it is not developing and I would probably discard it.

Don't be too discouraged at this point. I had an egg that got pushed out of the center of the nest and spent the whole night in the corner of the box. It was cold in the morning, but I put it back in the nest and it hatched right on time. Another egg cracked and I coated about 1/4 of it with nail polished. It hatched too! Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[krista74]

OK, I've candled 9 eggs in total (it turned out two had exploded, not three as previously thought) and of those 9, I discarded two. One of them looked see-through, and the other had a smallish black blob and a lot of liquidy stuff in it.

6 of the others seemed to have the air sack, and a large portion of the egg (maybe 3/4) was solid black, so potentially viable.

One had an air sack and a smaller black blob - we weren't confident enough to call it as a dud, nor as 100% viable. We put it, with the other 6, back under Broody.

Hubby and I couldn't help but smash the two discarded eggs! The see through one looked like a normal egg inside - obviously not fertile. The second one looked like scrambled eggs inside - a pale creamy mush that stank to high hell. I nearly fell over it was that rancid. Hubby said it smelled like sulphur - a potential bomb if ever I saw one!

We wiped the 7 remaining eggs with a damp paper towel. They are not clean by a long shot, but they are less egg-covered than they were. We didn't want to be too rough or fiddle with them for too long. Broody is now back on her clutch, and looking tired and confused. I hope she holds on and gets her reward for trying so hard.

Please everyone - send positive thoughts our way for at least one healthy chicky to hatch in 9 days or so!

- Krista

 

[16 paws]

OK, I've candled 9 eggs in total (it turned out two had exploded, not three as previously thought) and of those 9, I discarded two. One of them looked see-through, and the other had a smallish black blob and a lot of liquidy stuff in it.

6 of the others seemed to have the air sack, and a large portion of the egg (maybe 3/4) was solid black, so potentially viable.

One had an air sack and a smaller black blob - we weren't confident enough to call it as a dud, nor as 100% viable. We put it, with the other 6, back under Broody.

Hubby and I couldn't help but smash the two discarded eggs! The see through one looked like a normal egg inside - obviously not fertile. The second one looked like scrambled eggs inside - a pale creamy mush that stank to high hell. I nearly fell over it was that rancid. Hubby said it smelled like sulphur - a potential bomb if ever I saw one!

We wiped the 7 remaining eggs with a damp paper towel. They are not clean by a long shot, but they are less egg-covered than they were. We didn't want to be too rough or fiddle with them for too long. Broody is now back on her clutch, and looking tired and confused. I hope she holds on and gets her reward for trying so hard.

Please everyone - send positive thoughts our way for at least one healthy chicky to hatch in 9 days or so!

- Krista

Thoughts and prayers....
Dont be discouraged, I bet you are going to see some chicks.
Marie

 

[ochochicas]

OK, I've candled 9 eggs in total (it turned out two had exploded, not three as previously thought) and of those 9, I discarded two. One of them looked see-through, and the other had a smallish black blob and a lot of liquidy stuff in it.

6 of the others seemed to have the air sack, and a large portion of the egg (maybe 3/4) was solid black, so potentially viable.

One had an air sack and a smaller black blob - we weren't confident enough to call it as a dud, nor as 100% viable. We put it, with the other 6, back under Broody.

Hubby and I couldn't help but smash the two discarded eggs! The see through one looked like a normal egg inside - obviously not fertile. The second one looked like scrambled eggs inside - a pale creamy mush that stank to high hell. I nearly fell over it was that rancid. Hubby said it smelled like sulphur - a potential bomb if ever I saw one!

We wiped the 7 remaining eggs with a damp paper towel. They are not clean by a long shot, but they are less egg-covered than they were. We didn't want to be too rough or fiddle with them for too long. Broody is now back on her clutch, and looking tired and confused. I hope she holds on and gets her reward for trying so hard.

Please everyone - send positive thoughts our way for at least one healthy chicky to hatch in 9 days or so!

- Krista

It sounds like you did a good job candling since the two you pulled were not developing. Don't worry too much. There isn't anything you can do at this point other than wait. Is sounds like you've cleaned them up and are giving them every chance you can. Trust your broody!

Everyone has their own unique hatching story. I weighed my eggs before "lockdown" and they had only lost 7% of their original weight instead of the recommended 15%. I was sure none of them would hatched. We ended up with 10 cute babies a few days later and I realized the worry was for nothing. Haha.


Sending positive thoughts your way.

 

[Penny Hen]

Could I trouble you all for some help?

I have a broody hen who has been sitting on 11 eggs for 13 days. This morning I went to check on her and found her pacing in an agitated state around her pen. Three out of the eleven eggs were gone - smashed, and run all over the other eggs, presumably during the night. I have no idea if the eggs exploded, or if she ate/destroyed them. The remaining eggs are now coated with set, rotten egg. They, and the nest, smells like death.

In a panic and not sure what to do, I quickly whipped the remaining eggs from the nest, pulled out the sodden hay, flung in some fresh hay and put the remaining eggs back into the nest. I did not wipe them as the rotten egg had set on them, and I didn't want to do any more harm.

While I was doing this, Broody barged past me and into the main pen to be with the others. She was eating like crazy, grumbling and tried to run for the door, which I blocked off! (We have to do some health checks on our girls this morning, so no-one is allowed outside yet!) Eventually she made her way back to the nest and sat on the eggs again. How long she will stay there I don't know.

I was so excited, and now I feel nothing but bitter disappointment. Is there any hope for the remaining eggs? Should I do/have done something differently? Any ideas on what happened here? I am at a loss....

I guess if she leaves the nest there is nothing to be done about it.

- Krista

I just had the egg explosion happen with mine I took them in washed them in bleach water and popped them in the bator. Out of 6 good eggs remaining so far I have 3 hatched.

I am giving the others some more time because they were laid not by my broody but by the other two hens that crept in the nest box and laid their eggs after she had gone broody.

 

[abserbean]

I haven't attempted a graft yet, the feed store has chicks but they are three days old, I'm worried that is too long under a heat lamp instead of under a mom. Have you guys tried with slightly older babies before?

 

[krista74]

Thanks everyone! I am crossing my fingers and leaving her to it now. I think I've done everything I can.

At first I was very much in a 'trust your broody' frame of mind, but when the two eggs exploded at Day 13 it really threw me. I thought she would have kicked them out of the nest before they got to that stage. Oh well, it's her first time on the nest so I can't be too harsh on her.

Next time (lol, yes, planning the next batch of babies already) I will definitely be candling at 7 days and removing bad eggs. So many people told me I should and in the interests of 'letting nature take it's course' I hesitated to do it. In the end, Broody coped reasonably well with it, and I could have avoided the whole nasty scenario of the exploded egg.

We live and learn!

I am keeping all your positive thoughts and prayers close, and will keep you updated if I see any form of new life next week.

Thank you again, everyone.

Krista