Hens off egg time? How long???

[Hedera]

Hi,
I have 2 broody hens sitting on 6 eggs. (4 under one, 2 under another). Obviously they do get up to eat or drink, but just for curiosities sake, how long can they be off their eggs before they get too cold? Sometimes the hens are off for about 10 minutes or so. The only thing im worried about is the hens are off too long and the eggs get too cold and they dont hatch. Once one of my hens (the one sitting on 2 eggs) was off for like 15-20 minutes just exploring. I got so worried that I put her back on (then she sat on them again). The eggs were quite cold as well. Anyway back to my origina question, how long can my hens be off the eggs before they get too cold?

Thanks

 

[Hedera]

Dont know if this matters but the eggs have about 11 more days left

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
I have had broody hens that have stayed off for several hours and still had good hatches.. and i have had broodys setting eggs in the dead of winter (with nights in the teens).. get off the eggs so they could tend to their business.. come back and still hatch out chicks.. so for most broody hens.. they know what they are doing.. i wouldnt worry too much.. sure occasionally you have a hen who is just a bad mother.. but for the most part they are hardwired to know what to do

 

[Hedera]

Alright thank you. Because I read in a book that they can only be off for 10 minutes so I freaked out.

 

[BerrytangleFarm]

I've noticed our Australorp only seems to get off for longer periods during sunny afternoons. The grey, wet days I haven't seen her off, though I'm sure she was for a short period of time.