Broody hen was forced off her nest for a few hours during "Lock Down", will the eggs be okay?

[Arizonachick]

My Broody hen has two, day old chicks in her Kitty Litter Bucket turned nest box. There is a lip on the box and the chicks had hopped out of the box and couldn't get back in with mom. Momma, being a good mom, made the descision to look after the babies that had hatched and left the box, covering up her chicks and keeping them warm in front of the box. I was out shopping, went to check on them and discovered the situation. The eggs were cool to the touch. It's not very cold here. The high today was 90 degrees and was 75 degrees when I discovered what had happened. Momma is back in her nest and on the eggs. Do you think they will survive? They were due to pip and hatch tomorrow. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Tomorrow, I'm going to shorten the lip on the box so the chicks can get in and out on their own.

 

[foxy2320]

I'm no expert as I have my first broody setting right now (she's still in the main coop, I didn't want to upset her and have her abandon the nest), but I think that they should be fine. Mama wouldn't have left if it was going to kill them, and I'm pretty sure this whole "lockdown" idea was conjured up by a human, not a chicken! Broody hens have been hatching eggs and taking care of chicks since long before we ever got involved. You could always try to candle to see if you can detect any movement, but at this stage it will be hard to see anything, and if your girl is anything like mine she starts screaming like an angry dinosaur if you mess with her nest! Keep us posted, I'm interested to see how it goes as we're due to hatch sometime in the next 7-12 days(ish).

 

[Arizonachick]

I will keep you posted. She is back on the eggs and I fixed the lip of the box so that the two chicks can get in and out to get water and food and then get back under mom when they get cold. My other hen who hatched out her brood last week (In a different type of box) didn't get off her eggs at all during "lock down" except to poop and kept her all ready hatched chicks in the nest with the unhatched eggs so I was worried about this one. I will check later today for peeping and signs of piping. Hopefully they are all fine. Thanks for responding.

 

[chickydee64]

Hi, The eggs will be fine....and what a good mama..............
Oregonian here also........toward Multnomah Falls.............
My broody got off the nest with one zipping...scared me, but she got back on and all is fine.............