Egg Emergency!

[jrazz1]

Hi all, this is my first post. Sorry it's not the typical introductory post and all, but my 2 year old got into the coup and got a broody hen off her nest and took the egg to one of my older children. She's been broody for almost three days and I have no idea which way the egg was turned or if he shook it.

Anything we can do to mitigate damage control or should we just take the egg and let her start over?

Thanks for the help (This just happened about 20 minutes ago).

 

[DwayneNLiz]

did the hen go back to the nest?

if its only been 3 days you can give fresh eggs to start over, or give that egg back, and in a few days she *should* kick it out if its no good


Welcome to BYC and Good luck with your broody!!!

 

[rehabber0909]

I had one of my duck eggs roll away from mom and get really cold, it got down to freezing last night...I brought it in and candled it but saw no movement. I warmed it up slowly with a rice sock. Once it was nice and toasty I candled it again and the chick was moving all around! I don't know what the long term effect of the cold will be, but it's ok for now. It's about 2 weeks along I think. Anybody else ever hear of this?

 

[jrazz1]

Thank you for the welcome and advice.

She hasn't gone back. It's been a bit under an hour- so she should still be within the time frame. This is her first time being broody and she only has one egg in the nest... and, after the hawks and some crazy attack on the coup, this one and the rooster are the only two we have left

Thanks again for the help. And for future reference, can I assume safely that once an egg is moved (and isn't marked), there's pretty much no way to insure a healthy hatch right?

And can I say I appreciate the forum and the many threads I've read here over the past year? It has been most helpful!

 

[jrazz1]

She did go back to the nest in right at an hour and is still there now. I'll update this post if she kicks it out or if we get a chick in about 3 weeks. Thanks again!

 

[DwayneNLiz]

I had one of my duck eggs roll away from mom and get really cold, it got down to freezing last night...I brought it in and candled it but saw no movement. I warmed it up slowly with a rice sock. Once it was nice and toasty I candled it again and the chick was moving all around! I don't know what the long term effect of the cold will be, but it's ok for now. It's about 2 weeks along I think. Anybody else ever hear of this?

yes this happens, stick it back under momma duck

Thank you for the welcome and advice.

She hasn't gone back. It's been a bit under an hour- so she should still be within the time frame. This is her first time being broody and she only has one egg in the nest... and, after the hawks and some crazy attack on the coup, this one and the rooster are the only two we have left

Thanks again for the help. And for future reference, can I assume safely that once an egg is moved (and isn't marked), there's pretty much no way to insure a healthy hatch right?

And can I say I appreciate the forum and the many threads I've read here over the past year? It has been most helpful!

they are very pretty!
first time broodies sometimes get cold feet, so i would try and have a backup incubator handy,
you should mark eggs under broodies with a sharpie all the way around (circle) so that you can see if other chickens add to her stash,and also next time you may want to take eggs away and store them until you have as many as you want her to sit on then stick them under her all at once to make sure she doesnt have a staggered hatch and get bored of them taking too long to hatch

She did go back to the nest in right at an hour and is still there now. I'll update this post if she kicks it out or if we get a chick in about 3 weeks. Thanks again!

awesome!! good luck

let us know if you have any other questions!!