First time broody left clutch for an hour in the cold

[TS92]

She only had the eggs put under her 1.5 days ago - but it's only 5c out and the eggs were stone cold when I found she had gone back to another nesting box for an hour! Do I risk leaving them or get a new clutch?

 

[Yardmom]

The eggs are most likely OK, but can't say for sure. Do you have your own eggs to set? You could start over or trade a couple to increase the hatch chance. I would not do a partial switch any longer into the set.

 

[TS92]

Thank you for your reply - unfortunately I don't have any more eggs myself but I think I will try candling the eggs next Friday and see if there is any signs of development in case they are fine! Many thanks - hopefully they will be ok

 

[Yardmom]

My Silkie missed a few eggs when she got back on the nest around day 2. Not sure how long they were out and it was probably a similar temp. Last night day 5 we candled and all were good.

 

[TS92]

Oh thank you - that's very encouraging!

 

[Ridgerunner]

All broody hens should leave their nest every day to eat, drink, and poop, maybe even take time to take a dust bath. I've seen a hen leave her nest twice a day for over an hour each time in pretty warm weather. I've seen a hen leave her nest once a day for fifteen minutes in colder weather. Most I never see off of the nest at all but I know they are getting off, they don't poop in their nests,.

Before they go broody they store up excess fat. That fat is mostly what they live off of while broody so they can stay on the nest instead of having to spend so much time looking for food. It's good for them to eat something, that fat will last longer, but if you notice her losing weight do not panic. That is fat put there for that purpose.

it's only 5c out and the eggs were stone cold when I found she had gone back to another nesting box for an hour!

Giving it another week or so and them candling is a good idea. I think you will be pleasantly surprised. Many of us have stories like this with a power outage with an incubator or a hen doing what yours did, going back to the wrong nest. Something like this is not good, but most of us have good outcomes with those stories. I had one that I think was off of the nest for a few hours before I saw what was going on and put her back on the right nest. The eggs were ice cold to the touch but she still hatched 11 chicks out of 11 eggs.

What likely happened is that another hen was on her nest when she came back from her daily constitutional and she went to another nest. Most of my broody hens would still go to the correct nest. The girls are usually willing to share, broody or not, but my nests are fairly large 16" x 16". Did you mark the eggs so you know which ones belong? You should be removing any that don't belong. It makes life easier.

Good luck and let us now what happens went you candle.

 

[TS92]

Wow thank you for your comprehensive answer - even more encouraging!

She has been sitting tight and taking herself back to the right nesting box since then so hopefully - I did mark the eggs and there aren't any extras so maybe the hen that was on there was just trying it for size! Will update when I candle - might do that tomorrow night.

Also glad to know about broody's storing up fat - she doesn't eat much when off the nest and barely drinks anything but seems to be very healthy still!