Hen sat in wrong nest, will her eggs be okay?

Love2read

In the Brooder
5 Years
Mar 11, 2014
50
7
43
My broody hen must have gotten out of her nest to eat and when she came back she went to the wrong box. When I checked on her the eggs were cool to the touch, which means she must have been off of them for a while.

I put her back on her eggs, but am now worried about them. Will they be okay? :( They're about halfway through incubating.
 
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They should be okay just make sure it does not happen again I had a hen disappear for three hours and still had a 90% hatch rate
 
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They may still hatch, so don't give up.

When my Silkie went broody for the first time last March, she would often go to the wrong nest after her "break". Sometimes twice in a day. Each time I discovered this, the eggs were cold to the touch, our outdoor temps were in the 50's. I was pretty sure the eggs were dead, but I left them alone and never even candled them. On day 22, every egg hatched & the chicks were beautiful & robust.

My hubby built a "maternity ward" coop and run just for our expecting broodies after that incidence :D
 
Thanks! That gives me hope! :)

I do have a "maternity ward" as well as a small dog crate for wandering broodies. Unfortunately, when I tried moving her to the maternity area she wouldn't go back to her nestbox and when I put her in the crate with the eggs she panicked and ended up crushing one of her eggs and wouldn't sit on her eggs(she balanced on the edge of the box her eggs were in and wouldn't lay in them). So, yeah, not much I can do aside from leaving her in the main nestbox area and cross my fingers. :/
 
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