My brooding Hen... Help plz..

[rizwan65]

Hi everyone...
I am From Pakistan,
This is my First Experience regarding hen brooding..
I have a brooder hen of ASEEL HEN BREED(An indian Breed).
On 8/6/2010 My hen Sat on 15 eggs. At that time our climatic temperature was between 30-35 C..
For the Last 2-3 days the climatic temp has rised to 42-44 C due to which my hen stands up 3-4 times a day and keeps standing on the eggs sometime for more than one hour(i think due to heat or she thinks that the eggs got hot)...
So my Question is
1- Is this situation normal ?
2- If i change the place of Brooding wat would happen will she still brood or will leave the eggs ?

Your Help will be appreciated

Regards:
Riz

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, Riz.

Welcome to the forum.

Glad you are here.

We call your breed the Asil here.

The hen is trying to keep the eggs cool. It is a normal tactic they use. With your temperatures, I don't know if it will work or not.

If you try to move your hen, there is the chance she will stop being broody. It might be worth the risk if you have a cooler place for her, but that is your decision. I cannot tell you what the right thing to do is. If you do move her, move her at night with as little light and commotion as possible. it is best to have a place to lock her up so she cannot leave, with just enough room for her nest, feed and water, and a little room to poop. The nest itself should be fairly dark as this seems to help calm them down. If she can, she will probably try to return to the old nest. And in that heat, make sure she has plenty of ventilation.

Good luck!

 

[AZKat]

The temperatures where I live are 30-32 C also. My broody hen did the same thing, I think she was trying to keep the eggs from getting hot. She would also squat over the eggs, with her feathers just barely touching them, instead of really sitting on the eggs. The eggs still hatched, so the heat wasn't a problem. Trust your broody, she knows what she's doing.

 

[rizwan65]

Really thanks for the reply

Well currently my hen is in its nest sitting on ground with some soil and few grass on it and with other hens and cocks. At morning the other chickens comes out of the nest leaving her alone with eggs for whole day. She comes out from that place for about half an hour daily to eat drink and poop and goes in after that. I hope the presence of other chickens not disturb her.

I have now tried to change the atmosphere of nest by making it more ventilated and will put some water and feed near her instead of changing the location and take any risk

Will let you know what happens
Riz

 

[rizwan65]

Hi again
Today it is 23 days past but none of the egg hatched yet
My hen is still siting. How many days are required at most

 

[missychicky]

I have eggs on day 23 too and none of them have even pipped. I don't know what my eggs chances are either so I will be watching this post.

 

[rizwan65]

After 24th day of my Brooding hen...,
I broke the eggs and found some of the eggs with only yolk present in them..., Some had a black material..., some with green material in them... with a pungent smell....
Regards:
Riz

 

[missychicky]

They probably weren't fertilized or just didn't develop. Have you heard of candleing? It can prevent these mishaps.