Hen off her nest for about 3 hours?

Mew2

Hatching
6 Years
Apr 28, 2013
5
0
9
I have a broody hen who has been sitting on 9 eggs for about 13 days, and today I came home for lunch and took her out of the nest to get food and water. Normally she eats and drinks quick and then rushes back to her eggs, but today she lingered. I had to go back to school, but I figured she would go back to them soon enough. I returned 3 hours later and saw that she was still off her nest, and the eggs were cold! The temperature today is around 65 degrees. I quickly put her back on the nest and she settled down again. Is it too late? Have they died? Is there any way to tell?
Thank you!
 
Last edited:
Reading the below link may put your mind at ease.

http://www.brinsea.com/customerservice/poweroff.html

My best advice is to not disturb the hen when she's brooding. She's in a trance and will come off the nest once a day to eat, drink, defecate and stretch. Don't mess up that cycle by disturbing her.
Hens have been brooding for hundreds of thousands of years without interfering humans pulling them off the nest. Guess what - they haven't gone extinct from starving on the nest.
 

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