Help…. Not sure if my eggs are ruined !!!

[RachB]

Ok. So starting off … I’ve never done this before. This will be my first time placing fertilized eggs under a broody hen. Tuesday evening I purchased 15 fertile eggs and put 10 of them under a broody hen that night. Today (Friday- 3 days later) when I came home from lunch I notice another hen in the box with her. (They all want to lay in the box with the broody one of course!). Well they had broken one egg. So I removed it and noticed that the other hen seemed to want to act broody as well. Screaming and hunching down and not wanting to stand up after being removed from the box. I thought…. Ok… maybe I’ll put you one box over and add in the eggs I didn’t put under the first one (the ones that have been on my counter for 3 days). This was at 12:45 pm. Outside temp was approx 66 degrees today. Well I came home around 6pm to find the original girl in the second box with the new eggs and the first set cold and abandoned. I assume the second one layed her egg and got off immediately and my broody moved over. I cannot believe she left the eggs she’s been on. I ended up marking the colder ones and put her on all of them. Did I completely ruin this batch of eggs? Can anything develop in the first 9 now that they cooled off for 5 hours? Broody hen still broody and hunkering down on all of them… but I don’t know what to do. I thought maybe I can use a flashlight and candle them in a few days… but most of the egg are Maran eggs. I do have a lighter on from that original batch….any suggestions

 

[1muttsfan]

It does not mean that your hatch is ruined. I would let all of the eggs incubate under her, as long as she is big enough to handle them. Candle them after 10 days.

This is a good example of why it's best to separate a broody hen into an area where other hens cannot intrude. Other hens will lay extra eggs that may or may not develop and certainly will not hatch at the same time, hens can break eggs, and broodies can get up for a snack and a poop and forget where they came from, ending up on the wrong eggs.

Best of luck!