GRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Broody sat in wrong nest...how long...?

[ChooksChick]

Luna lost both of her brain cells when she went broody- never would have guessed this kind of behavior wasn't from a neurological condition...


Anyway, when she came out for a bit this morning to talk to herself and scrounge around, she apparently didn't go back to the right nest. I didn't stick around to make sure she went back, because she's been great so far (day 15 for 2 eggs and day 12 for 4 eggs) and has had all of the diligence one would expect. I had to go run a garage sale (can't stand having one, bu needed to get rid of this crud) and thus moved out front.


Four or five hours go by.


I check on her and she's in the wrong nest, and the eggs are room temp- which is ~80 today.

I grabbed her and dropped her on them (she acts like she's tranquilized, the loon!) and she kind of shrieked at me, but was otherwise concentrating on whatever it is she's doing...

The nest was covered part of that time, because an unmarked egg from one of my other girls joined, but there's no telling how long, because I have some champ girls who silently shoot eggs and walk away.

What are the chances these eggs will be ok?? Anyone have a similar experience?

 

[Lollipop]

They may be OK, just gotta wait and see. I`ve had eggs hatch on day 25 with no hen setting, just one keeping the nest warm at night with her brood. Of course it was south FL and temps were warm. Perhaps you may have read posts about moving a broody to her own place for privacy. That`s just one of the reasons for doing so. Hope they hatch for you........Pop

 

[Dirt Road]

4 or 5 hours on a warm day should have no effect on them at all. Only reason one would quit because of that would be it was very weak anyway.

Jim

 

[Chirpy]

My broody and your broody must be sisters!

Last year she left her nest several times (like four or five) and went back to the wrong nest! I kept putting her back on her nest and finally moved her to a rabbit hutch where she couldn't make any mistake because there weren't any other nests around. I only had five eggs under her... one hatched. Whether the others didn't hatch was because she left them for several hours at a time or because they were mailed to me or because my kids picked them up multiple times thinking they were to be brought into the house... who knows. We were thrilled with the one chick.

Keep an eye on her and try to keep her on that nest... hopefully you'll get a chick or two or .....

 

[ChooksChick]

So, my chicken did it again today, and I haven't isolated her because I haven't had time to make a place for this- short of putting her on the floor of the bathroom, there isn't a quick solution, and we've had events this past few days, too...

So- I'm going to speed up some other things happening here, and force an integration between the adult hens, the teenagers (12? weeks?), and the 'babies' (8 weeks). I hate to force them together and expect the giant BR to get a few beaksfull of feathers, but it can't be helped. This will free up the banty shanty for the broody. She'll have a nest, an enclosed coop area, and a tiny run (4'x8') for her little poop jaunts.

I'll have a baby monitor in the big coop so I can hear if it's turning into a massacre. I'll integrate after dark.

Has anyone got any idea if handling the eggs several times to move her and to get her eggs back under her would be a problem? Not that it isn't already too late, because it is, after her switch-a-rooing, but what does experience tell you folks on that?

Any suggestions on the integration tonight?

Thanks, as always, BYC community!

 

[dancingbear]

Don't sweat it. I have one who got back in the wrong nest almost daily, the entire incubation period. Some of the eggs got broken, I washed the guck off the others, and put them back. That happened several times. By the time day 21 rolled around, she only had 6 eggs left, out of, I don't remember for sure, between 10 and 12. 5 hatched, much to my surprise, they weren't even late.

The weather's warm, they'll most likely be fine. It's amazing how tough these delicate little eggs can be.

 

[basicliving]

The eggs will likely be fine - I had a broody that would get back on the wrong nest. Every. Single. Dadgum. Time. She was a constant source of stress for me. It got down to 20 degrees during the day for a few days while she was doing this and I would constantly find her on the wrong nest and her eggs cold. I was positive that little bonehead would NEVER pull it off and hatch those eggs. But she had a 100% hatch rate. I was SHOCKED.

The same hen is broody right now and due to hatch out tomorrow. I had NO luck trying to move her to a broody pen - she apparently fretted all night because the next AM her eggs were cold and she was trying to figure out how to escape the brooder. I put her and the eggs back in the nest and put a piece of chicken wire across the front of it. I let her out if she wanted out, and then made sure she got in the correct nest box when she returned a few minutes later - and most of the time she did NOT get in the correct box. But this has worked for her this time. When the chicks hatch, I'll move them all to the brooder pen.

If you can just block your hen in the nest box, it may be less disruptive than moving everyone around. And that may give you time to rig up a small brooder pen. I just blocked in a small area with hardware wire. Well, I blocked in two small areas so I can have two brooders - I've got 4 broodies on eggs right now and the hatch dates should allow 2 to rotate out as the other 2 hatch.

Nothing fancy - Just blocked off an area under the nest boxes, and then put some wire inside to divide in half. Each "brooder pen" is about 3' X 4'. Here is a pic:

Let us know how you end up handling it. And good luck!

Penny

 

[ChooksChick]

I suspect that this is my fault, anyway. She originally sat in the favorite of 5 nests, with only 6 layers...you know how they are.

I moved her to the one giant nest, also a favorite, but not as adored by all of them. It's also on the floor level, and is 24"x36" and 16" tall- they usually love this nest and I thought I could fence it off if I needed to and have enough room for her and food and water, i necessary. She was fine siting there, but decided to go back to the 14"x14"x16" nest after going back to the correct on several times. She is acting like she's so discombobulated she doesn't even stand up if I pick her up, but kind of just plops down, except when she's out, and she's tearing around bokking to herself or speed dust-bathing.

I candled again yesterday and saw movement in all 6, but the interesting thing is, I'm supposed to have 2 on day 18 (if I'm counting right; they're dated) and 4 on day 14, but of the 4 on day 14, it looks as if 2 are a couple of days farther along. I did see movement on all 6, do I'm just very confused. I guess it's possible that they go sat on a bit at their source- they were hand delivered straight from the hens who lay them, and they were dated, but I suppose they could be wrong?

I think I need to stop thinking about this...



Thanks, everyone. Does anyone have advice about handling the eggs? Is candling a bad idea this late in the game?

 

[dancingbear]

Too late to change it now, but it's better to set all the eggs at the same time, under a hen. Otherwise, you're likely to have a hen leave the last ones when the first ones get restless. Or leave behind freshly hatched, still wet chicks, to take the older ones out.

I see a lot of posts from people who have added eggs over several days, when hatching under a hen. It's just asking to lose the later-hatching chicks. Of course, if you have a 'bator up and running, and can move the remaining eggs before they get too cold, you might be able to slip them back under mom at night, after they all finish.

Sounds like you have a 4 day gap, the moms usually only stay on the nest 2 days max before they take the first chicks out of the nest.

 

[ChooksChick]

Quote:
Thanks, Jenny.

I thought I had 2 broodies, and one got up after 2 days.

Further, I had the dog get in and eat 3 eggs of the original 5 within an hour of putting them under broody #1.

~Broody #2- she had plucked her chest clean and hangs out for hours after laying, but isn't sure about this whole thing. Stayed overnight one night, but gave it up...still seems to be thinking about it.

I wish they made this easy on us, but that doesn't ever seem to be the case! It doesn't help when we humans jump the gun, either....