Intimidated Chicken Caretaker

[mandymack]

Hi Chicken Lovers ~

I am new to this forum and horribly new to chicken rearing. I rescued a broken-legged chicken 2 months ago at a racehorse barn area. $500 later (vet bill, still kicking myself) this young hen laid her first 12 eggs and began sitting on them 1 week ago.

I moved her nest (straw-filled wicker basket) from one barn to another because my stable of horses HAD to relocate and no one at the old barn wanted to care for her. I placed the nest in an identical spot behind the straw bales in a feed room. She succumbed to the move but yesterday she left her nest for whatever reason and made her way back to the old barn, panicked, looking for her nest.
I brought her back to our new barn and placed her once again on the eggs.

My question(s):

The eggs were cold and she shuffled the eggs when settling back in. Are her eggs no good now and does jolting an egg or two mean the chicks may be injured?

I bring her food and water so she doesn't have to leave the nest but why she left I don't know. Maybe I shouldn't bring her food...

Thanks for your help.

 

[Flippacase]

are the eggs fertile?(is there a rooster with her?)
if there is no rooster, then there is no chace of anything other than a yolk being inn those eggs, so you should remove them so the dont go bad and explode.

 

[Imp]

First off

& congrats on getting a chicken. Thank you for caring for her.

Can't help with the nest question, but there are lots of hatchers here who can.

Imp

 

[mandymack]

Thank you for responding. Yes, she'd been hanging out with a rooster for about a month. I hope they don't EXPLODE! Ahhh!

 

[OhMyItsAndyy]

If they're fertile, she may just be moving them a little. Hens do that a little. Something 'bout the chicks not sticking to the side of the shell or something like it i beleive.

and ofcourse, Welcome to Backyardchickens

 

[Freeholder]

Put a basket or a cage or something over the top of her so she can't leave the eggs again. Put her food and water inside the basket. After a couple of days, you should be able to take the basket away. I lost a clutch of nineteen eggs (yes, she was covering all of them!) after I moved a hen with her eggs into a cage in my garage -- she'd been setting in a rabbit nest box up on top of my rabbit cages, and I was afraid the chicks would fall when they hatched. Somehow she managed to rattle the cage door open and get out of the cage, then fly up to the eaves and get out of the garage (the eaves aren't blocked and the garage isn't finished inside). By the time I found out, the eggs were cold -- and then, of course, as soon as I went back to the garage and opened the door, she made a streak for the eggs...but it was too late. They were less than a week from hatching, poor things.

You spent $500 on a CHICKEN!?!?!?

Next time you have a hen with a broken leg, just splint it yourself -- it's not like she's got to win races or anything! My ex and I splinted a badly broken leg on a two-week-old goat kid one time and a month later you couldn't even tell she'd been injured, so it's not that hard. (And if the injury was worse than that, it's best to just put them down.) But kudos to you for kindness to animals!

Do you know what kind your hen is? And what kind the rooster is? It would be fun to see pictures, especially if she manages to hatch some babies out.

Kathleen

 

[mandymack]

Thanks Freeholder for the info. But because her eggs were cold does that mean they won't hatch?

I checked out the Chicken Breeds section of this website and am 90% sure she is a Welsummer. The majority of free ranging roosters and hens here look like Welsummer Partridge type. She has the same coloring as the photos. She is wild like all of them and they fly really high and roost up in the trees. I will try and take pictures of her and post something.

How long can the eggs be cold without going bad? The anticipation is killing me.

She is totally eating a variety of food I bring her.

And yes, I paid to have a cast put on her leg because all the horse vets around here only knew how to wrap vetwrap around her leg and body to stablize it. Didn't work. After x-rays and such, someone offered the popsicle stick & tape cure but by then it was too late. Next time I'll know.I just didn't trust my ability, and still don't.

I never thought a chicken would be so interesting, fun and heart-warming.

 

[ChicknJ]

hey there, not sure how cold it is where you are, but I have had a hen take an hour long break from sitting on the eggs and still had a great hatch. Also lost power when incubating for several hours and some still hatched, so if she is still willing to sit them, wait a couple more days. Maybe try candling them in a couple days. I just use a dark room, a strong flashlight and shine it up thru the bottom of the egg. See if you have any developing/movement.

Whoo hoo, score on the Wellsummers. best of luck, waiting to hear your peepers anouncement. Welcome

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Quote:
And now you know why so many of us are addicted!!

 

[rancher hicks]

I had a hen doing the same and more than once and she hatched 5 out of 6. I say there is a good chance they'll hatch if they're fertile. It's amazing how these things work. Most chicken books deal with incubator hatching. Just keep checking on her and keep putting her back. She'll eventually settle down. Make sure she has food and water nearby. You are now obligated to give us up dated reports ya know. I really hate when people ask for advice and we never know what happened.