How long can Broody mama take a break?

[Laylahege]

I have a broody girl sitting on eggs. This is the first time I've had fertile eggs and haven't broke the hen. How long can she leave her nest without the eggs getting too cold? She's in her own little area, but she's left a few times when I opened the door to dust bathe and eat/drink. She's only been gone from them 30 minutes tops. When she comes back she wants to sit on the nesting box eggs, not her nest, and I have to move her. We are on day 4. I'm in GA so it's still pretty warm here.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

They commonly leave for 30 minutes once or twice a day, and then return to the nest. That's normal.

What I don't like is that she has access to the nesting box for the general population and goes there instead of her nest. For those hens who get confused, you have to have an isolation nest. Eventually she will be off the nest too long and it will kill the embyros.

Good news is it is warm in Georgia. That helps with delayed return. Cold weather can kill chicks quickly. (I've even read in super hot streaks, like in Texas, spontaneous hatching of chicks in an abandoned nest, LOL).

So you've got some work to make sure she can only get off her nest and return to her nest. She needs to be a flat pancake on those eggs for the best success other than a couple of short nature breaks.

LofMc

 

[Laylahege]

They commonly leave for 30 minutes once or twice a day, and then return to the nest. That's normal.

What I don't like is that she has access to the nesting box for the general population and goes there instead of her nest. For those hens who get confused, you have to have an isolation nest. Eventually she will be off the nest too long and it will kill the embyros.

Good news is it is warm in Georgia. That helps with delayed return. Cold weather can kill chicks quickly. (I've even read in super hot streaks, like in Texas, spontaneous hatching of chicks in an abandoned nest, LOL).

So you've got some work to make sure she can only get off her nest and return to her nest. She needs to be a flat pancake on those eggs for the best success other than a couple of short nature breaks.

LofMc

Thanks! She is in a locked crate with her own private nest, food/water. She came out when I was changing her food.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

30 minutes is completely fine and very normal.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I had a hen come off of her nest twice a day and stay off for an hour or so each time. It was the heat of summer. I had a hen come off for 15 minutes each morning. I've had hens I've never seen off of the nest but I know they are coming off as they are not pooping in the nests. All of these had good hatches.

 

[fluffycrow]

Typically, while the hen or pullet is out of the nest, she will eat, drink, dust bathe, preen and stretch, in whatever order she likes. Like Ridgerunner points out above, every hen or pullet will do things differently, potentially even different each time they brood.

I have one hen that takes about twenty minutes to half an hour. I have another that takes 15 minutes tops, she'll do everything almost in a hurry; dart out of the nest and find a suitable dust bath, return to the run and drink, eat, drink, hop on a perch preen, hop down, stretch, and grab a quick bite before heading back to the nest. I have another that can be almost an hour off the eggs. In co-brooding situations, they've taken turns off the nest I've found.

Time of year also matters. Even the hen that takes one hour off the nest seemed to take less time when she brooded in November