Hi everyone! Southern California chickens here!

[SoCalClucker]

I'm a longtime reader of this site, so figured I should at least do everyone the courtesy of officially introducing myself. There is so much experience and expertise on this site!

(1) Are you new to chickens / when did you first get chickens?
We got our first chickens about 5 years ago. Since then, we've added to our flock, raised a few batches of turkeys, and are currently on pins and needles waiting on a broody hen sitting on fertilized eggs to hopefully give us some "homemade" chicks!

(2) How many chickens do you have right now?
8. I think. ;-)

(3) What breeds do you have?
Buff Orpington, Austrolorp, Rhode Island Red, Cuckoo Maran, Easter Egger. I think. ;-)

(4) How did you find out about BackYardChickens.com?
This site is huge! Any chicken-related question I search via Google has at least some links to BYC!

(5) What are some of your other hobbies?
Gardening, cooking, baking, sewing, and running after my two little ones who grow bigger everyday. <3

(6) Tell us about your family, your other pets, your occupation, or anything else you'd like to share.
We searched high and low for a place within San Diego County that wasn't too far on the fringes, but still had space for us to build a little mini-homestead. We found it in North County, and currently enjoy our nearly-1-acre-lot that is packed with fruit trees, vegetable beds, container gardens, and a verrrrrry roomy home for our clucky girls.

 

[Kiki]

Welcome to BYC! (officially)
How long as your girl been sitting on the eggs?
When are they "due"?

Here is a quick video that may help you navigate the site as a member better:

 

[SoCalClucker]

Thank you! We had a dozen shipped fertilized eggs come in, they went under mama hen June 8 so are technically "due" June 29th, only a week away! But wouldn't you know it, the minute I sign up for the site, catastrophe hits and I am desperate for your advice...

EMERGENCY!!!!!

I just went into the run to check in on mama and the other girls, and it is absolute and complete chaos. Mama hen is standing up in her box, looking around her feet, wondering what just happened... one egg has flown clear of the coop and is cracked... one egg is shattered in pieces within the nest, with bits of developing chick mangled and blood and yolk all over the others, and the missing eggs are simply... missing. I am in shock. Out of 12, 1 chucked out and cracked, 1 cracked open with contents everywhere and probably picked at, and 5 missing, presumably eaten, shell and all. All this after my happy candling session 2 days ago, when I was floating on clouds. :-(

My best guess is that broody Mama bird, who usually takes her break right around this time of day, left her eggs to come down and someone else decided to poke around, and broke an egg in the process. Once the egg is broken, it's a buffet line... by the time mama got back up into the nesting boxes, only 5 of the 12 are left and there is yolk and gore coating them. I picked up the one that had been kicked out, #6, and it had a puncture crack so it was a goner. Picked up the bits of broken shell and broken chick, then switched out the nesting pad. (One upside to this all - easy cleanup). I used a moist paper towel to try and clean off the remaining eggs are gently as possible. I even added several infertile eggs so the nest doesn't feel as empty, and then removed myself as quickly as possible. To my great relief, she is now back up on her nest. Whew!

So please, the trush, your honest opinions... what the odds, could these eggs have any chance at all? When I felt them, they were still quite warm, so I don't think the whole incident took very long, and with our weather at 100 the eggs wouldn't exactly have chilled. At least candling they looked very healthy and active.The eggs still in the nest had no additional cracking or shell damage that I could see, could the exposure to the broken egg(s) have introduced bacteria? Or could my wiping them off had done the job? Should I just give it up, or with only a week left, at least try and see if we get a miracle out of this?

Thank you co muh!

P.S. After what this poor broody has gone through, the plan is to pick up some day-old chicks from the country store and tuck them under her when pipping/hatching begins (if it ever does). Poor girl has earned herself some babies...

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome to BYC. Eggs can go for quite some time without heat / humidity. The further along they are in incubation, the longer durations they can withstand. I'd say that you should be fine. I had an 11 hour power cut when my last eggs were about to hatch and they were fine.

 

[drumstick diva]

Sending Good Hatching Vibes your way. Hope it helps. Do you have her broody area fenced off so no other hens, etc. can get to her nest? If not, please do.

 

[SoCalClucker]

Thank you everyone, for the hope.

Drumstick diva, how does one do this? It is our first time letting a broody sit on a clutch of eggs. The way we have our setup, there is no way to separate Broody off where she is. We would have to move her, nest and all, to a different spot... Which we can totally do, we have a small portable run which would be perfect, can sit inside the main run so she doesn't feel like she's lost, and easily fits a large cat carrier as a nesting box. But she won't have it! Twice we have tried to move her, once in daytime and once at night, trying to be smooth and sneaky, and each time she becomes completely panicked, frantically trying to get back to her nest even though it is sitting right next to her in the new spot. She will even walk right through it without noticing it, squawking and trying to push her way back. It gets to the point that I fear she will accidentally break the eggs, or just reject them, not recognizing them for what they are. It's actually rather heartbreaking to watch, call me a sissy...
So, knowing the risk, we have been watching the flock closely and never noticed any aggression until now. After the horrible incident, we figured we would try again right around hatch day. Is there a better way to move her that I can try?
Thank you!!!

 

[PBBackyard]

Hi SoCalClucker! I had the same thing happen with my broody and her 5 eggs. 2 ended up destroyed..ugh...after all that work! I ended up moving Mama to a Rubbermaid Trunk in the garage for the last 2 weeks. It was dark, quiet, and calm for her. The trunk was large enough for her with her food and water. I just put green garden fencing around it (mostly to keep the dog away from her). 3 or 4 times a day I would take her out into the yard to stretch her legs. Although most times she just RAN back to eggs.

Good Luck and let everyone know how the hatch goes!

 

[SoCalClucker]

Hi SoCalClucker! I had the same thing happen with my broody and her 5 eggs. 2 ended up destroyed..ugh...after all that work! I ended up moving Mama to a Rubbermaid Trunk in the garage for the last 2 weeks. It was dark, quiet, and calm for her. The trunk was large enough for her with her food and water. I just put green garden fencing around it (mostly to keep the dog away from her). 3 or 4 times a day I would take her out into the yard to stretch her legs. Although most times she just RAN back to eggs.

Good Luck and let everyone know how the hatch goes!

Thank you PBBackyard, neighbor! The move ended up going fine, despite my previous failures... turns out she just needed a bit more time to settle down and figure out that her nest (moved to be right next to her in her new pen) was the most comfortable place to sleep, so she might as well ;-) Thankfully she is still sitting on her eggs, and today is day 18! I don't know if we have any chance of any eggs hatching, but I ordered some day-old chicks that she'll hopefully adopt. It feels like this poor little broody deserves some babies to raise, after all she's been through!