Hello Chicken Peeps!

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Lrpete said:
Thank you! I have different breeds. I have Buff Orpingtons, Rhode Island Reds, Speckled Sussex, Golden Laced Wyandotte, Ameracana, Buff Brahmas, Black Jersey Giants, Barred Rock, New Hampshire Red, Buckeye, Olive Egger, Murrays Big Red Broilers, and one unknown. They range in age from 3 years to 6 weeks.

I have a 3 yo Buff Orpington that went broody over a month ago and has hatched out 4 eggs in the last 3 days with one egg left to go. One of the hatchlings is a BO/Ameracana mix, and I think the rest are all BOs.

I just discovered today that my Sussex laid a clutch of 22 eggs out in the brush and started setting them last Saturday. We have a lot of predators here and just lost a year old BO on Sunday to a predator. Houdini, the Sussex, laid her clutch near where the other chicken was taken, so late this afternoon I tried to move Mom and the eggs to a dog crate in the coop. She pitched a fit, knocked over her water and food and abandoned the eggs. 😭 I discovered the abandonment about 4 hours later, gathered up the eggs and put them in the incubator. The coop temperature was 60 degrees, so I know they cooled off. I don’t know if the eggs will survive or not. I candled them and most seemed to have embryos in them. I’m really sad b/c this is my first experience with broody hens and watching the one hatch out her eggs and care for her babies was really heartwarming. I was really looking forward to another hen raising a bunch of babies, but that isn’t going to happen now. 😢

Do you think the eggs will survive In the incubator?
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When you lock a broody away from her nest, that is usually her reaction. Panic. Eggs can be damaged in the process. She doesn't graft to the eggs so much as the site she was setting in.
I would try to set up a plush broody nest in a dark corner of the coop on the floor, making it as private as possible and put some fake eggs in it. She may settle down on that nest. If she does, and she digs in and gets determined again and keeps going back to the new, secure nest site for at least 2 solid days, I'd give her back her eggs to finish hatching and raising.
 
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