Hen's Been Sitting On Eggs A LONG Time...

[bigmike&nan]

Our Dear hen Alice went broody the day before Good Friday, or April 9th. She laid an egg on Wednesday the 8th, one on the 9th and the last on the 10th. She had mated with her spouse Tony a number of times the week before. Sadly Tony passed away on Good Friday. She's been really good taking care of her eggs, hardly comes down to stretch or anything. We've seen her only leave the nest twice in three plus weeks. We thought we had a peep thru Monday but nothing since. There is no bad smell and she'd got herself fluffed out on those eggs so wide clucking away.

So tell me and my wife, you think there is still a chance ?? Hens are usually smart enough to remove bad eggs and since she's sitting on these three like they are gold is there a chance. The wife and I decided to let her be, let her do her thing as long as she wants...

Opinions and encouragement gladly accepted... Prayers too...

 

[1mommahen]

I think it's a little long, but stranger things have happened!

Can you get one out and candle it? Or tap lightly on it and see if you hear anything!

Wishing you lots of luck!

 

[DANNY]

Hens will set for months on bad eggs. Candle the eggs and see if they are fertile. If not get some more eggs and put under her. It's a long time for her to sit but will be worth it for her to have babies.

 

[Poultra]

Eeee - I let my first time broody sit an extra week before I checked the eggs. There were six of them and they were badbadbadbadbadbad. I didn't smell them either until I started poking into the air sac end to check them, contents definitely under pressure. I decided to just break the nest up instead of making her sit another 3 weeks or so and let her get on with her life. Hopefully, she'll go broody again some day and we'll try again.

Hope that helps!
Katie

 

[skeeter9]

I'd definitely candle them, Mike. If they're no good, you could either put more eggs under her, or sneak some feed store chicks under her tonight. The other option is to take the eggs away and make her get back out with the other hens.

Let us know what you decide to do.