broody1 left nest,broody2 ate half a baby???

[strangeanimal]

One broody has given up after a long time , the chick inside of the egg seemed fully developed ...

So my ' collector and eggthief ' who is set was given more eggs since these could hatch out any time now , just one issue , broody 1 was this morning already moving around so her eggs were left atleast a two hours ! they were really cold once I held them ...
I know a chicken does it to ' clean up the nest ' if there is one dead ? But that egg had a huge crack in it she done by accident so ok she ate half of it ... now I would like to know that a chicken can also know about her not cracked eggs they are still viable or not ? because they 've been cold yes but does that automatically mean my chicks are dead too ? I've known lots of broodies even off the nest for 3-4 hours the last days , or not at all leaving it , so where are we ?? would she have already eaten them if these were dead or does she simply not know anything ??
too many questions but just wanna keep things good ...
Ty

 

[PD-Riverman]

Listen---I am sorry for your Trouble's. I have said this many times and I will repeat again Now----just trying to help. I hatch MANY broody hens(over 150 in just 3 seasons), I have NO Problems, very great hatches, all on time and All I do is Move the broody hen to a Private hatching pen at the beginning of her setting---Private--only one nesting box, only one hen---don't have to check under her daily for new layed eggs. Works great.

 

[Lozuufy]

Being cold doesn't necessarily mean they are dead, I've had eggs hatch that survived over 5 hours being cold. They did hatch a little later than scheduled but most were ok after I warmed them back up.
As far as I know broodys cannot really tell the difference between live and dead eggs, my broody hens have sat for weeks on infertile or rotten eggs and didn't look like stopping at the time I took the eggs away from them. If an egg cracks a chicken instantly sees it as a food source and no longer a potential baby. She may hatch out the others fine but keep an eye on them in case she decides that one was delicious and wants another. Good luck!

 

[strangeanimal]

Listen---I am sorry for your Trouble's. I have said this many times and I will repeat again Now----just trying to help. I hatch MANY broody hens(over 150 in just 3 seasons), I have NO Problems, very great hatches, all on time and All I do is Move the broody hen to a Private hatching pen at the beginning of her setting---Private--only one nesting box, only one hen---don't have to check under her daily for new layed eggs. Works great.

hi PD-Riverman , guess there is a misunderstanding here , none of the two are sitting together , also I'm being left with only a few chickens after an outbreak of desease whereby my entire flock died so in broodies I do not have that much of a choice plus the broody 1 we are talking about was set already for a long time but she also notices that they aren't with that many , asking herself why , what is happening ...
She started to go on and of broody the moment the first hens died , my method is a 200% the same so that is definitely not the issue here .

I was just wondering about the second broody ( also private BROODYCOOP ) what she can know from the chicks inside the eggs , because she ate a cracked egg which happened by her feet by accident , I might have written it too unclear so let me try again ,
first of all :
both broodies are in a private enclosed coop with walking area so they would get of the nest for feed , water , poo , etc .
One was used to set before the other started and did an exellent job as usual ( also NEVER had troubles with that before and I barely saw them back then ) , yet once the troubles with the desease started many have been locked up , culled , or simply died due a cure is never a cure if CRD occurs .
she has left the nest this morning or night , the eggs must have been about atleast two hours being left cold by her and she still doesn't try ( gave her some fakethings ) , she wants to join the others and is constantly on a roostbar before the nestingbox so she has just given up while she has been AWESOME which I undoubtfully regret as she is one I do trust in parenting well ...

But the thing was more about the question I had in mind that a. if the hen eats the chick of a cracked egg she already knew the chick was dead or not and especially
b. the question wether they know that the other ones (if dead ) are dead too but not necissarily have been eaten
and my biggest question on top of it was actually ' if they are left cold for so long that they might have died or not ( I couldn't really find that out due the fact the egg she ate was cracked a lot so I just assumed it was because of the cracks in it and questions raised my mind ... ) ain't so odd or is it ? Because this can be for many a few ' dumb ' silly thread but for many others it may be usefull to know the how and what about the many questions , why I ask so many ? because I 'd like to learn and share so much more , I hope here by my questions are rephrased better and that no hard feelings from no matter who may be .
Wishing you a great day / night and I do thank you too for your input here , as this is a little bit of confirmation I'd done it right with the private coops , kind regards out of BE here

 

[strangeanimal]

Being cold doesn't necessarily mean they are dead, I've had eggs hatch that survived over 5 hours being cold. They did hatch a little later than scheduled but most were ok after I warmed them back up.
As far as I know broodys cannot really tell the difference between live and dead eggs, my broody hens have sat for weeks on infertile or rotten eggs and didn't look like stopping at the time I took the eggs away from them. If an egg cracks a chicken instantly sees it as a food source and no longer a potential baby. She may hatch out the others fine but keep an eye on them in case she decides that one was delicious and wants another. Good luck!

well she did not really eat much of it as soon she noticed it was a fully developed chick LOL , but she did eat something which was at the bottom of the egg , looked like a little bit of yolk ? and luckily those eggs are holy for her , she didn't try them anymore so I guess she did just see it as ' not fit to hatch out ' ?
Anyway she is trustworthy at this point and has already eaten an egg before when some hen cracked her egg (which she was so kind to share with the rest ) .

I always had the idea that they knew wether or not the chick died or survived , because I personally believe she knew the chick in the cracked egg was already gone , which it was .
Too bad they don't know it for real because that way it would have been so much easier to know how the chicks are doing . Now I do like to candle the eggs today because she was not the one that should be hatching but a sneaky broody is a sneaky broody and if one gives up , why not , right ?
she did steal eggs before she was set and along with all ' her ' eggs she is now in the private area for herself but the ages of eggs can be very different . plus many won't be fertile , so just a check up real quik and back to her but probably a lot of eggs less
kind regards out of Belgium

 

[PD-Riverman]

OK, I guess I was reading it wrong. Question, 1st post

"One broody has given up after a long time , the chick inside of the egg seemed fully developed ..."

How "long" was she setting on the eggs that she abandoned??

 

[strangeanimal]

OK, I guess I was reading it wrong. Question, 1st post

"One broody has given up after a long time , the chick inside of the egg seemed fully developed ..."

How "long" was she setting on the eggs that she abandoned??

Hi No problem , we're just humans trying to help eachother out right , she was set for a third time actually , she hatched for a friend I have two clutches from each 8 eggs max , second one included a few eggs for me but it seemed the eggs ware not all fertile , so she was set on these eggs for two weeks and a day or 7-8 ( last five days is when she got on and off ... ) so finally I set broody 2 and she died yesterday :'( ! , seems that she did have immunity against the CRD yet I did not count on the eggs that could have been a carrier , so stupid ! I should have known this however I do find it odd given fact these hens have never been in contact !! nor the eggs she was set on so I'm now trying to put my finger on that what could have brought the desease to the eggs or to her . It happened right after she got the eggs ! I'm clueless right now and the eggs ? well , 3 hatched and all died short after ... so I am guessing my precious Keira Baileys knew they were sick ! she ate that half chick right ? well she most have known this I think , also the last day she suddenly got more , I don't know NOT defensive on the eggs yet still willing to hatch them and she did take care of them but got off a lot , either her being sick caused it , either she felt the eggs did it and she didn't wanna have sick babies ? pff this bad luck is coming out of my ears right now , I got rid of the eggs too as they were definetly contaminated , if not by another thing or hen , by her ... For now I'm having it all ' on hold ' , any broody gets broken right away and all eggs destroyed , any suspicious acting of any chicken , wether it is a hen , roo , chick is dead from now on as CRD is nothing but a desease that is in one word a disaster , forget about antibiotics , I gave them , all that does ? filling your petfriends wallet and emptying yours plus it just reduces symptoms for a while ! CHRONIC is all you need to know in fact to not have any hatch , nor any contact with others and simply having to cull those I'm afraid ... I can't believe it , Baileys dead ... so as far as I am concerned ? no chicks that have been in touch with any sick chickens ... And about the remaining flock ? Yeah I guess you know what i am going to be doing to them , still have the free rangers yet , they are not allowed in here , they stay for now on another land but they all have to go too so right now ? no chicken , nothing , can be closed for me and I like to thank all those who have tried to help me out here , you in particular PD-Riverman , you are a source of wisdom here and just fyi : I see this in many people but it takes experience and you are one source to rely on , thx for all your help here with so many of my questions ...
In loving memory of : Keira Baileys , a hen that I just can't even get out of my head , a true delight to me and any other chicken ..