Hen abandoned clutch after moving them

[nayalusa]

We have a 2 year old BA who went broody. We let her prove it for a week then called a friend for some fertilized eggs (5 of them). At the time she was located inside the coop in 1 of the 3 nest boxes we have available for our 10 hens. We stuck the eggs underneath her and voila. She has (had) been siting contentedly for 6 days. After discovering 2 of them broken and unsure if it was her eliminating "bad" eggs on purpose or due to other hens crowding in the box we decided to make her her own little refuge inside a "chick introduction" cage that we already had. Last night after moving food and water into the cage and getting everything set up ahead of time we moved the 3 remaining eggs and then our hen. She seemed to be stressed and pacing the front of the cage but we thought we'd just let it be rather than move them all back to the communal coop. This morning, the eggs were cold and she was not on them ( I don't know if she was during the night). I'm assuming this is a loss at this point. We candled them last night quickly before putting them in the new cage and there were developed veins in at least 2. The 3rd was hard to tell. Were super bummed as it was our first broody hen ever and we wanted to do the best thing for her.
Questions:
1. Are the eggs done for because they felt cold to the touch this morning?
2. If the original eggs are "done for" and I go back down and she's back on them should I : a. remove the "cold" eggs and replace with fresh fertile eggs and start again? or b. Remove cold eggs and try to break her broody cycle and try again in a couple weeks if she goes broody again?

 

[GitaBooks]

I'm sorry to hear about that.

I've had hens do the same thing. They are in a nest box and the other hens break their eggs, so I try to move them and they have a panic attack and won't sit on the eggs because they only want that one nest. We have tried methods of protecting the eggs in the original nest box, but it can be difficult to let one hen get in and out and not the others.

Cold eggs can survive, we had a hen who got stuck away from her eggs. They were cold, but I put them back under her. Some died, but the others just hatched a little later than usual.
I would not suggest breaking her up, as she probably won't go broody again for a while. You could try giving her new eggs or you could give her back the old eggs and wait a few days before candling them again.

(Susie with her chicks. Her eggs had gone cold but they still hatched)


I hope it all works out. Good luck!

 

[nayalusa]

Thank you for the quick reply! So we moved the abandoned eggs back to her original nest box inside the communal coop and she's back on them. She's plucked her underside feathers bare and seems committed so I hope the eggs are still alive. If I candle them again in a week (about 14 days at that point) I assume they should be more than visible veins like I saw last night at 6 days?). How long was your hen separated from her eggs and they still hatched? Worse case, if mine was off them all night last night (about 60 degree night) do they still stand a chance of being alive?

 

[GitaBooks]

I'm not sure how long my chicken was off her nest, it was in the morning when I found her, but I'm guessing it was only a couple hours at most. If you candle the eggs again you can use reference photos to see what it should look like.
If you have to start over with fresh eggs she will probably sit on them the whole incubation period, even if it is extra long.

I hope it works out.

 

[Briggadane]

I've had hens hatch eggs on the 3rd level of a nesting box. Once chicks hit the floor, she stayed with them in a lower level box. I did use cardboard to cover her hole, and keep the other hens out. I'd remove it in the morning to let her out, then put it back an hour or so later. I did have to keep other hens from entering and laying new eggs. Then put the cover back for a few hours. off and on. IT worked though. Dont know how much time you have to do this...

 

[nayalusa]

Update: We never found the missing egg but one egg out of the original 5 (2 broke, 1 quitter, 1 missing) hatched on exactly the 21st day! Here is our first time broody with new baby.

 

[Alyssa23]

My chickens had there first egg today but silly me I dropped it and it broke.

 

[Alyssa23]

I

 

[Alyssa23]

What is a BA

 

[GitaBooks]

What is a BA

I'm not sure.

I think its a Black Australorp, however.