broody in 104 degree weather! yikes!

[sunket77]

I tried all spring to encourage my silkie to go broody while my duck was laying to hatch ducklings. But to no avail she never would, now just after moulting and laying about a doz. eggs total (I took most of them) she decided to go broody in the middle of the summer in 104 degree weather with 2 of her own eggs! Will she be ok or should I try and break her? She is in a small coop that she shares with some younger hens who aren't laying yet and a sizzle roo. I haven't even had time to give her a proper nesting box so she is sitting on the ground of the coop! I hadn't messed with getting her a nesting box since she had gone all summer without laying and I had just built the new pen for them. . On top of that my lakenvelder hen has also decided to go broody and take the favorite nesting box in the big coop! I have some eggs in the bator I could give her but I would need to move her and I am thinking I should move my silkie also?? I don't know these are my first broody's and I am not sure what to do with them! I am afraid of moving them since they might stop. any suggestions!?

 

[sunket77]

correction.... my lakenvelder only wants to sit on eggs occasionally but is not quite broody, she is on the nest most of the day but is not really displaying broody behavior off the nest. But I do need to move my silkie I just realized I have another rooster in the silkie pen he tried to mate with her while on her nest.

 

[elmo]

Personally, I wouldn't let one of my hens go broody so late in the summer, especially during this awful heat wave.

 

[Ms Ellen]

I don't know how they do it but they can. My silkie hen hatched 16 chicks on the ground in the corner of her coop with temps over 100 about every day. If my incubator temps were that high the eggs would fry but the hen can do it somehow.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

I just had a broody hatch out four chicks. Temps outside have been in the high 90s with humidity consistantly up around 70-80%. It is awful out there. She seemed okay and we had four make it out. Three of the four though had health issues. I know the genetic line is good as I have hatched from them before and the chicks have been fine. All I can figure is that these guys got messed up in the shell by the extreme heat and humidity. One baby had a badly prolapsed rectum, one had a leg turned 90 degrees inward and one had some sort of neurological issues. It kept falling over backwards and laying there screaming. It never figured out how to turn itself back right side up. It ended up dying after a couple of days. I culled the other two. The fourth one is still alive, but it has some mental issues I think. I swear it is a little... slow. It's not zippy like other chicks its age. Dunno. Odd.

I know high heat and wrong humidity can cause these sorts of problems in the incubator. It makes sense that the same thing can happen outside. I'll not set eggs again when I know the weather is going to be this wretched.

 

[sunket77]

I think I have decided to bring her inside the house, I have a playpen I use for a brooder and I am going to get a cardboard box for her to set in and move her how they suggest on a thread here on BYC. She like coming indoors on occasion and just sitting in a laundry basket. I am going to wait a couple more days so she is good and broody and then try and move her, I have the incubator running so if the move fails I can toss the eggs in the bator. Thanks guys!

 

[elmo]

Quote:
Good move. Just be careful when you move her back outside after the incubation period to do it gradually so she can reacclimate to the outdoor heat. I don't know where you live, but where I live we have at least another month or more of awful heat to look forward to.