How long can a hen be off her eggs? Broody hopped back in wrong nest!

[zephyr66]

hi... yesterday was my broody hen's 2nd day of sitting on her eggs. i came back midday and realized she was in the wrong nesting box setting on two eggs my other hens had just laid. there were two new eggs in her clutch which i removed (i marked the ones with pencil she was on). i put her back in the correct box on her eggs. i'm in the process of setting up her own nest where she will be segregated and this won't happen. at the very longest, the eggs may have been exposed with no hen sitting on them for 3 hours - and that's the max. and, again, it was the 2nd day. our temp outside was probably in high 50's or low 60's. do you all think these eggs will go ahead and hatch or will that time with no hen on them mess up the process? looking forward to the feedback!

 

[chickenpiedpiper]

I have found that eggs are really pretty resilient (sp?) I have a couple broodies that have this same problem, usually it is from other, more bossy hens who want to lay in that box. I find it best to put the eggs under the broody in the new box rather than keep trying to move her into the first one. But seperating her is the best method.

Unless the eggs were frozen, I would let her keep them, a couple hours of cold shouldnt kill them at that early of a stage. I also would let her have more than 2, what if one doesnt hatch, then you have one lonely chick, and my hens are not as good with one chick as they are with many. Dont know why, but a lot of times, if they get down to just one chick, they just kind of throw thier hands up, and walk away, leaving you with an orphan....

is your broody still laying her own eggs? if so, let her keep them, or add a couple others. The temp of her body will increase as she sets, bringing all the eggs to the same stage of development, so they hatch within a few days of each other. Nature is pretty clever that way.

Good Luck!

 

[zephyr66]

thanks so much for the response... what i wrote was unclean probably... she has 8 eggs under her but hopped back into a different nest that only had 2 (laid by other hens while a different hen was under hers). i will look this afternoon to see if she is still laying! so, sounds like these eggs will stay, i'll give them a chance and i'll separate her tomorrow when i can build a little private "coop studio" for her, ha ha.