Day 24/25 - Nothing Happening - Broody Hen

[ashmariewa]

I put six fertilized eggs under my broody hen in the afternoon of May 9 and still nothing is happening. She's been a good mama, but I did find her off her nest, sitting in a different nesting box on Day 20. It was one of our colder days, and the eggs were definitely chilled. Did this kill them?

She accidentally knocked an egg out of the nest around day 17/18, and there was a nearly fully formed chick in there, so I know things have been progressing up to that point.

Are things pretty doomed by now? This particular hen has been broody for MONTHS. We tried sneaking chicks under her, but she rejected them, so we moved on to the egg strategy. Really hoping we can get at least one out of this attempt. I would try candling, but the eggs are VERY dark green so I had little luck when I tried early on.

Any thoughts?

 

[nuthatched]

Have you candled the eggs? Break your broody if you don't get a hatch, being broody this long will drain her.

 

[Ridgerunner]

It was one of our colder days, and the eggs were definitely chilled. Did this kill them?

Hard to say. By day 20 the chicks are generating a lot of heat inside the egg. I don't know how long she was off of the nest or how cold it was. I had a hen do that somewhere around day 14 to 16, can't remember exactly. Her eggs were cold to the touch when I found her and put her back on the nest. She hatched 11 out of 11 eggs. Funny thing was the hatch was a day early. Being cooled did not slow them down.

Any thoughts?

Of more concern is that you started on May 9. That means the 21 days were up on May 30. It is not that unusual for eggs to hatch a couple of days early or late under a broody hen. But it is June 3. I think you are running out of time. In your situation I'd probably give her until tomorrow and then break her if you don't see anything.

 

[ashmariewa]

Okay, that's what I was curious about.

Any tips for breaking her? Maybe I'll pull an egg today and see if I can candle it to see movement or anything.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The way I break a broody hen is to put her in a wire bottomed cage with food and water with no nest for 72 hours. The wire bottom allows cool air to hit her undersides. Many people use a dog crate up on bricks or cinder blocks. That's a wire dog crate without the liner that goes in the bottom, not a solid plastic crate. I built my brooder with a hardwire cloth bottom so it works as a broody buster. I've also hung a wire bottomed dog cage with a rope from a rafter in the coop when that broody was occupied. You want it to be predator safe.

After 72 hours I let her out. That's usually enough but if she goes back to her nest she gets thrown back into that brooder for another 24 hours until she finally breaks.

 

[ashmariewa]

Thank you - I'm going to try that.