Hot weather broody question

[MAchicken105]

I have a first time broody that has been sitting on 6 infertile eggs for two weeks.

I swapped her eggs for 7 fertile eggs yesterday afternoon (due to hatch Wednesday). I’ve been checking on her on and off yesterday and today she seems to keep a few eggs partially uncovered. I keep pushing them back under her but I’m thinking it’s been 93-95 and humid the past two days in Massachusetts. Could she be cooling them off?

This is only my second time letting a broody hatch out chicks and first time in this kind of heat.

Advice?

 

[nchls school]

If the hen is panting, with her mouth open and her wings held out from her body, she is too hot which would/could make it hard for her to brood the eggs.

Sawdust and fine chips do not make a good nest as they don't hold the eggs in place. A better nest material for a broody hen is straw or any medium long dry grasses.

 

[junior67]

I have a first time broody that has been sitting on 6 infertile eggs for two weeks.

I swapped her eggs for 7 fertile eggs yesterday afternoon (due to hatch Wednesday). I’ve been checking on her on and off yesterday and today she seems to keep a few eggs partially uncovered. I keep pushing them back under her but I’m thinking it’s been 93-95 and humid the past two days in Massachusetts. Could she be cooling them off?

This is only my second time letting a broody hatch out chicks and first time in this kind of heat.

Advice?

This is my first time having a broody in this heat and only my 2nd time with a broody. My other one just hatched eggs out almost 2 weeks ago. But I use large flake shavings in my next and my last broody did just fine keeping the eggs under her and keeping them warm the whole time and we had some 20* nights (I am also in MA).

I noticed over the weekend the 1 fake egg my broody is on (she just went broody this weekend) would be sticking out from under her. Now she is new so it may not be doing it right but I figured where it was so hot she doesn't need to cover them as much. They normally know what they are doing so I would let her do her thing.

And this weather in MA has been CRAZY the past few days!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I trust my broody hens. They know more by instinct than I'll ever know. I've never seen them push eggs out like that but the way my nests are made that would be difficult for them. In hot weather I have seen them standing up so they are not tightly covering the eggs.

In your situation I'd leave them alone. If she wants them under her she will take care of it.

 

[MAchicken105]

So she was just hot; I gave her some air conditioner by setting two gallon bags filled with ice next to her and she popped those eggs right back underneath herself. Thankfully the weather the next few days is going to be much cooler so she shouldn’t have any issue on hatch day Wednesday.

Thanks for the tips on bedding, I did have a broody hatch out on the same bedding a few weeks ago with no issues but I will rethink that for next time. Since it’s so close to her hatch day I’m not going to swap bedding now.

 

[K0k0shka]

I trust my broody hens. They know more by instinct than I'll ever know. I've never seen them push eggs out like that but the way my nests are made that would be difficult for them. In hot weather I have seen them standing up so they are not tightly covering the eggs.

In your situation I'd leave them alone. If she wants them under her she will take care of it.

Not all of them are trustworthy by default. Some just suck at it (even though they appear to try, they just seem to be missing some of the instincts). I'm dealing with a very subpar broody right now, regretting letting her sit. I thought broodies knew their stuff, but this one clearly doesn't. Her eggs are hatching right now, and in all those weeks she never remembered which nest was hers (out of 2!!!) and I had to fence her in to keep her from occasionally going back to the wrong nest. She also doesn't tuck the eggs back under herself if they roll out (I have hay in the nest, so it should be easier for them to stay in place). I've been having to check on her and push eggs back under her because they were getting cold to the touch, and we had some really cold weather recently (40s, prior to this current 90s heat wave). Her chicks are hatching now and she's pecking their feet, probably thinking they are mealworms... I have a backup broody that I'm not breaking, just in case this one gets overwhelmed or can't handle the chicks. Backup broody hatched and raised chicks for me last year - had none of those problems, nothing whatsoever.

Chickens have been bred artificially for so long that they have lost the reliability of instinct. The pure breeds at least. Some make great moms, others suck, yet others will never sit in their whole lives and their kind would go extinct in the wild, if it weren't for people perpetuating their genes artificially (with incubators or more reliable broodies of different breeds). So I wouldn't put my trust in a broody 100%. A wild bird - totally, their survival depends on it and they are fine-tuned to do it right, or else. Chickens though... Chickens are hit or miss.