Help ... First time with a broody hatching ?s

[10xmama]

This has been a roller coaster! Lots of twists and I'm wondering if there is even a chance any of our remaining eggs are viable.

Here's the story:

First broody sat for two weeks on golf balls while we waited to get our hands on some fertile eggs. The lady who sold us the eggs encouraged me that most likely my hen would stick it out. She finally got 8 fertile eggs on the evening of 6/23. We had set up a spot for her in our barn away from our coop/run and we simply traded out her golfballs for eggs once it was dark.

We left for vacation on 6/28. I had people coming to collect eggs and care for my chickens so they were instructed to look in on broody hen. One of the families noted a stinky smell on 7/1. The next family came 7/2 and said they didn't notice any problems and broody seemed fine.

We returned from vacation on 7/5. Broody hen seemed like she was anxious to get out of the barn. I let her out for a bit and inspected her nest. 2/8 eggs were gone. There were some shell remnants ... So I am guessing something went wrong and broody took care of it. After a few min I went and got the broody and shooed her back into her nest. The next day DH opened the barn to get out our mower and broody hen ran out ... And seemed to be done. She was still fluffy and making her noises but was foraging with the others. ... And not showing any concern for her nest or wanting to go back. Maybe 28+ Days was just too long in her book?

I went to the coop... And as luck would have it, one of the other girls was broody. Not quite sure what to do, I opted for moving broody #1's eggs to the coop and putting them under broody #2. That was Sunday. She has been heartily brooding her clutch. But I checked in on her yesterday and noted a stinky smell. I lifted her up a bit and discovered one of the eggs had ruptured. It was a stinky mess. Just a bunch of grey stinky goop. Doesn't look like there was anything viable in that egg at all.

I removed the mess and had to wipe off one of the other eggs ... But I really couldn't clean off broody's chest ... She was kinda slimy and pretty stinky.

I've checked on her a couple of times today .... She's sitting on the remaining five eggs ... Which should be due to hatch on 7/14. ... But I'm wondering if this has been too much turmoil for there to be any chance of them making it?

.... And though the eggs seem intact the broody still smells. Her chest is of course bare and seems very warm and red ... But I'm guessing that is perfectly normal? I just hope that rotten egg didn't make her sick or irritate her skin?

Anyone have a saga like this and actually have chicks make it?

 

[Mojookie]

Yes! I have a rooster so there was no problems with fertilized eggs. I had one hen go broody in the laying boxes she had 8 eggs. She seemed to be doing fine and then on day 20 she got up and moved to another laying box??? The eggs were cold to the touch, so I made her get up and join the flock and wouldn't allow her to continue being broody. Next thing I know I have two more hens broody and thought, I'll give this one more try. I put a large dog crate in the coop on the floor. It's the metal kind that folds out to a 3X5X3. It had big enough openings for small predators to get inside, so I wrapped it with 1/2" opening fencing, (terrible idea!! mice get trapped in it and that is just a whole other problem cutting them out of it. YIKES!!) I moved both hens into comfy 16"X16" laying boxes with their eggs. One had 9 eggs the other had 6. Funny thing is the Australorp switched with the Buff and took her eggs. The Buff finally relented and and sat on the 6 eggs. Day 11 the Buff decides she wants out of the pen! Wants out now! Once again her eggs are cold. She has no problem moving on, doesn't try to get back in, or try to be broody.
The Australorp stayed and hatched 6 eggs on July 4th. Two appeared to have hatched and died for unknown reasons. The remaining 3 didn't hatch. She stayed on them for about 2 more days and then got up and left them. She has 4 chicks, too sweet how they cling to her. It has been a week. I have moved the dog pen out into the pen area under a tree and I put them there during the day and back in the coop at night in a small enclosed pen.
It has been exhausting!
I'm afraid to let Mom just free range with them, so I'll keep them in this grow out cage until they are bigger. Not sure if that's the right thing to do?? There is definitely a learning curve with hatching eggs!!
So the answer to your question is to just keep trying. Hopefully you'll have some chicks soon. Surely the cracked egg isn't going to do anything to the mother hen. If they were in a natural setting she would probably just move her eggs away from the cracked egg and let the mice have it. Good luck!

 

[Ridgerunner]

No, I haven’t had a saga like that. Sounds like a rough time. I have had a broody where an egg was broken under her and got all the other eggs dirty. None of those eggs hatched but they were really coated with that egg gunk.

Several different things could have caused those eggs to go stinky. The basic problem is that bacteria got to them and multiplied. When the hen lays an egg the last thing she puts on it is a coating called bloom. That’s what makes an egg look wet when it is just laid. It’s a coating that helps keep bacteria out of the porous egg. It’s not perfect but it does a pretty good job.

If an egg is dirty bacteria can get inside. I’m not talking about a light dry smear but a fairly dirty poopy, egg. Or if the bloom gets washed off or you remove it by cleaning it with sandpaper or something like that bacteria can get inside. What might have happened was an egg was thin-shelled and it broke just from the hen standing on them. Then the egg would go bad since bacteria can get inside and that can get the other eggs dirty. Or maybe a rat or something ate and egg and got the others dirty. That stuff doesn’t happen a whole lot but it certainly happens.

Don’t give up on those eggs yet. They still have a chance but yeah, that kind of stuff is not good at all.

I’ve had a hen return to the wrong nest. What often happens is that another hen is laying an egg in her nest when she is out for her daily constitutional, the broody gets confused when she returns and goes to the wrong nest. Last summer I found a hen on the wrong nest fairly late in her incubation. Her eggs were ice cold to the touch. I just put her back on the right eggs. She hatched 11 out of 11. Late in incubation the chicks inside the eggs ae generating a lot of heat on their own. They can usually take a drop in outside temperature without a problem.

These situations are not good, but I find patience is usually the best course. Give the eggs a chance. They will often surprise you. That’s part of the learning curve. Panic and doing something drastic is usually the wrong move.

 

[10xmama]

Thank you for the encouragement.

I went to the coop this morning and 2 more eggs ruptured. Blech!!! Such a stink. I cleaned it up the best I could and removed the soiled shavings … and put some clean ones back under broody (who would hardly move while I took care of the issue). I put the remaining 3 eggs back under her … but I really have not much hope of them being good. When I got back inside .. I decided to order 3 chicks for her. I placed the order in time to get next week's chicks so it looks like we will have them sometime between Tue-Th. She has only been broody about a week, so I hope this works. I'm a bit tired of cleaning up rotten eggs!!

If all goes well with the chicks … there will be a 2 girls and a roo. This will be our 1st roo … so from here forward … no more ordering fertile eggs.

 

[10xmama]

I went out to the coop again and briefly inspected the remaining 3 eggs … I admit that I actually gently shook them a little. One I could feel liquid sloshing around. I quickly disposed of it. I threw it into the woods and when it hit the tree it made a loud pop. I just saved myself from another gross clean-up.

On the other two eggs, I felt something solid when I shook one … It didn't seem to move back but just shifted when I moved the egg. I'm thinking its a dead chick? The third egg didn't seem to have anything noticeable shifting in it … so maybe that one is actually good? I put the one with the possible dead chick and the one with nothing remarkable back under the hen.

What a saga.

My chick order will be here between Tue-Th. After reading up on roos again … I'm a bit worried. I do have little children. If roos are unpredictable … then maybe we are better off not chancing it. I ordered 2 girls and one roo … that may have been a mistake.

 

[Mojookie]

Thanks for the info Ridgerunner, Sheesh I sure hope that wasn't what happened with my hen. I did try to get her back on the eggs, but she wouldn't stay on them. I have so much to learn. What is your advise on them being in the grow out pen? How do you know when it is safe to just let them run free with the mom?

 

[Mojookie]

I've had pretty good luck with the rooster I have. He did flog my Granddaughter once, but in his defense she was chasing one of the hens trying to pick her up. He was just protecting his flock. When he was young he would flap his wings at me and lower them to the ground and I would just do it back to him. He just backs off when I do that. haha Seems to me you have to determine that alpha role with any animals, so get that strut and arm flapping ready. Just in case he calls you out. haha

 

[10xmama]

After more reading up on the eggs … I determined I should not hear/feel something when I gently shook the egg … so we decided to dispose of the eggs in the wood. Sure enough, when we tossed them -- they exploded. A foul liquid was in them, no evidence of a developing chick. Just grey sludge with a bit of black specs.

Now our broody is sitting in her box with golfballs. She amazes me that she could be so determined not to seem to care about all the drama.

Our chick order is on it's way. We decided to call the hatchery and cancel the roo -- sticking with all girls for now. Once all my kids are old enough to defend themselves from a roo and respect his girls then maybe we could manage it; but for now, we better play it safe.

So the next phase will be trying to graft the chicks under the broody. Hope that goes well. Any advice is welcome!