Hen leaving her fertile eggs

[katies007]

I'm brand new to all this, so bare with my ignorance please! I have a hen who is broody, and has been with her eggs for a bit now, however when I checked on her today, she was laying about 12 inches away from her eggs and they were ice cold. Is this normal? Thanks for your responses!

 

[bobbi-j]

I'm brand new to all this, so bare with my ignorance please! I have a hen who is broody, and has been with her eggs for a bit now, however when I checked on her today, she was laying about 12 inches away from her eggs and they were ice cold. Is this normal? Thanks for your responses!

Did she get back on them? It's normal for a hen to get off the nest for 20 minutes or so every day to eat, drink, relieve herself and dust bathe. The eggs may feel cool on the outside without having cooled completely down on the inside. As long as she's getting back on the nest, I wouldn't worry about it. Worst case scenario is that the eggs won't hatch. Let her do her thing and see what happens.

 

[Sonya9]

I'm brand new to all this, so bare with my ignorance please! I have a hen who is broody, and has been with her eggs for a bit now, however when I checked on her today, she was laying about 12 inches away from her eggs and they were ice cold. Is this normal? Thanks for your responses!

How long is "a bit"? One or two days? A week?

If she has only been broody for a couple of days she may not be all that serious about it.

There aren't ants or anything in the nest are there?

 

[katies007]

She has been on them for at least a week. I didn't notice anything in the nest that shouldn't be there, and she eventually got back on. Thanks everyone!