how long can a broody hen be off her eggs?

[Jen-Brd]

Broody hen question. I have a hen that was sitting on two eggs for several days. Yesterday she left the two eggs and went to sit in another empty box. The eggs were cool to touch but I move them and put them under her anyway and she excepted them. This morning I noticed she was off the exit again in another empty box I tried to put the eggs under her again but for the first time ever she tries to peck my hand. Anyone know why she would leave the eggs for an empty box but still act broody?

 

[rebrascora]

@Jen-Brd

Hi

Is she in a pen on her own or in with other hens. If the latter, my guess would be that she is either being pushed out of the nest by other more dominant hens who want to lay in it or they are getting into her nest to lay whilst she is having a broody break and when she comes back she can't get into her own nest so she clambers into another one, perhaps even to wait, but then goes into her broody trance and is unaware that the eggs aren't under her. This is a problem with hens trying to brood in communal nests, especially if one nest looks much like another.

There is a chance that the eggs (if fertile) will still hatch but it may be delayed but if this continues to happen there is a good chance they will not make it. Can you place a board across her nest, so that she can't get out or other hens get in. The once a day, remove the board whilst you are doing daily chores and encourage her to come out for a broody break. She should be no longer than 15-30mins. Once she goes back to the nest, fasten her in and she will be safe on the eggs for the rest of the day. Broody hens prefer a dark quiet, safe place, so you would be doing her a favour in preventing the other hens intruding in her nest. If you are worried that she will not get enough food, you can always put a little pot of wet mash or even some scrambled egg in there for her, so that she has plenty, but they are quite capable of getting what they need on that short daily broody break.

If she is in a pen on her own, block off the other nest boxes, so there is only one to choose from, but I never heard of a broody hen selecting an empty nest over one with eggs so I'm pretty confident she is in a communal nest box and her companions are the reason for her playing musical nest boxes.

Good luck with resolving the problem and I hope they both hatch.....if you want more reassurance about the eggs viability, Casportpony has a thread about her unintentional and thankfully failed attempt to kill some hatching eggs, which involved a broody hen incubating them for a week and then them being removed and accidentally left on the kitchen counter for a week before being put into an incubator and they still hatched!!

Best wishes

Barbara

 

[Jen-Brd]

Thank you for your response!!! I think you are 100% correct. She keeps having other chickens sneak in when she is off to eat. I will be better prepared and seperate her next time.

 

[elaineinspain]

my broody australorp hatched 1 chick on day 21. She still has 3 more eggs under her, and today is day 23. Today she was off the nest and kicking through the wood shavings showing baby how to forage, I suppose. But she had left her eggs, and when I touched them they were cold. I took them inside and tried candling them but couldn't work out anything except for the air cell (large) and dark shadow in 2 and in the other one if I moved the egg the dark shadow sort of moved with the movement of the egg - didn't look promising. Then I tried water candling after checking first that there were no cracks. They all floated with approx 85% under the water, but no movements at ll. I tried tapping on the egg and listening for pipping - nothing. I have put them back under my broody and she immediately pushed them underneath her and settled on them.
How long should I leave them with her? All the eggs were set under her on the same day. And she stayed on the nest constantly, 24/7 for the full 21 days. Only after the one hatched on day 21 has she shown any interest in getting off the nest, if only for a short while.

 

[rebrascora]

@elaineinspain

As you say, it doesn't sound promising from your description, especially when they were all set together. I particularly don't like the sound of the one that the air cell moves in and I would guess that will be sloshy inside.... a gentle shake should confirm and I would remove that now and give the others another day. They certainly can survive getting cold as long as it is not for an extended period..ie hours. So, if the broody is happy to set them a bit longer, then I would leave the other two until tomorrow. If they have got cold they will not move in water or make any sound, so you need to test them when they are have been well warmed through either by the broody or an incubator.

Good luck with the live chick you have and hope that you are lucky and the others are just really slow developers. Are they all the same breed?

 

[elaineinspain]

@rebrascora

my broody is an australorp. She is sitting on a mixture of buff orpington and cochin, as I have just a small flock of 1 buff orpington rooster, 1 lemon blue cochin hen (1 year old) 1 buff orpington hen (1 year old) and the australorp (3 years old)

this is my first time incubating eggs. I only set some as the australorp became broody, and she was so determined after 3 failed attempts to break the broodiness I gave her 6 eggs, 2 of which got broken in the first week before we made a broody pen for her.
The chick is yellow with feathered legs, so I reckon she is a cochin orpington mix.
Could it be that the others need a little longer because they are pure orpington?

 

[rebrascora]

I doubt them being possible pure breed as oppose to a mix would make a difference but if they had been a mix of bantams and large fowl then possibly. It could be that the eggs getting broken in the nest caused a bacterial infection to penetrate some of the remaining eggs though.

 

[elaineinspain]

@rebrascora
thank you for your help and advice. I'll give them another day and if there's no development I'll put them in the bin. At least I've got 1 new chick! Lets hope she is healthy. She seems fine - peeping and eating and drinking and running around.
How long would you say I should keep them in the broody pen? The australorp is the bottom of the pecking order and gets picked on quite a bit by the others, but she is quicker than the others and so gets out of their way before any fights can break out. But if she has a baby with her to protect, that may be difficult. The broody pen is in the main coop, which is a loose box where horses used to live before we bought this house.
I also have another smaller coop on the other side of the garden away from where the flock roams. (the flock has 'the paddock' for themselves and then there is the garden for us humans) So I do have the possibility of putting the australorp plus baby in the small coop if the bullying gets bad.

 

[aart]

@rebrascora
thank you for your help and advice. I'll give them another day and if there's no development I'll put them in the bin. At least I've got 1 new chick! Lets hope she is healthy. She seems fine - peeping and eating and drinking and running around.
How long would you say I should keep them in the broody pen? The australorp is the bottom of the pecking order and gets picked on quite a bit by the others, but she is quicker than the others and so gets out of their way before any fights can break out. But if she has a baby with her to protect, that may be difficult. The broody pen is in the main coop, which is a loose box where horses used to live before we bought this house.
I also have another smaller coop on the other side of the garden away from where the flock roams. (the flock has 'the paddock' for themselves and then there is the garden for us humans) So I do have the possibility of putting the australorp plus baby in the small coop if the bullying gets bad.

I'd give the chicks a few days to a week to get strong then let them in with the flock.
There will be some fights, hens against mama, but the mama should prevail-it won't be pretty, I had to break up a few fights.
Best to have a feed/water station near mama's nest.

 

[rebrascora]

I agree with aart. Give her a few days for the chick to grow stronger and learn to follow her about and then choose a day to let them out with the others when you can be there to supervise. Providing safe places for the chick to hide where the adult birds can't get to it is helpful. I have a bottomless cage that I chock up on 75mm timber blocks or bricks and I put the chick crumb in there for the chicks, so that they learn to duck in there for food and water and to get out of the way of the adults if they need to. It means the rest of the flock are not guzzling their chick crumb and the broody can get food from the adult hen feeder for herself. You can start by putting the broody in the cage with the chick for a few days so she shows it the feeder and then chock the cage up a bit and lift the broody out but leave the chick in, so that the chick learns to duck under to get out when the broody calls it. I hope that makes sense. I would keep the broody and chick within the flock if at all possible. The broody should either protect her chick or teach it how to avoid any bully hens. If you have a major bully hen that will not leave them alone, then consider isolating the bully rather than the broody and chick.