My broody girl left her eggs cold!!!

[Kellyluvschicks]

Hi, I stuck some bantam eggs under my broody silkie 2.5 weeks ago... She had been broody for atleast 2 weeks before. I'm in California and it's been great weather but we got a rainy cold day and she ditched her eggs at day 18:-( I found them cold and stuck them in my bator... Anyone know the chance of survival?? I always hatch eggs under a broody hen and have close to 100% hatch.. Never used an incubator but have one just in case... The eggs were supposed to start hatching today... No sign of pipping:-( any thoughts??? I'm so sad!!!!

 

[chooks4life]

Hi, I stuck some bantam eggs under my broody silkie 2.5 weeks ago... She had been broody for atleast 2 weeks before. I'm in California and it's been great weather but we got a rainy cold day and she ditched her eggs at day 18:-( I found them cold and stuck them in my bator... Anyone know the chance of survival?? I always hatch eggs under a broody hen and have close to 100% hatch.. Never used an incubator but have one just in case... The eggs were supposed to start hatching today... No sign of pipping:-( any thoughts??? I'm so sad!!!!

They may still be live. Wait it out would be my suggestion, until you know for sure, probably around day 25 or so.

I've seen eggs be left cold repeatedly, and they seem to cope just fine right up until actually pipping, when they cannot return to the dormant state. Any other time they were fine to be left cold for a day or even overnight. As long as they didn't freeze. If they were left cold for a whole day they will take an extra day to achieve the development they were unable to achieve during that day.

The answers to a few questions may help:

How long was it before you noticed she abandoned and you started incubating them?

It's also worth considering that perhaps she abandoned because they were bad. Have you candled them?

Best wishes.

 

[Kellyluvschicks]

Hi! Thanx for your response! Good to know!!! Thank you!! I'm so used to them hatching right on day 21 under mommy hen! So, to answer the 2 questions...
I opened the coop in the morning and she ran out like normal... She always returns within 15-20 minutes. I noticed it had been a couple hours and saw her out pecking in the rain. I really didn't think much about it cuz I figured maybe she went out again for some food or something... I ran some errands that afternoon... It had been atleast 5 hours by the time I went out and checked again. She was still out pecking and the eggs were cold:-( I'm assuming she left them that morning, so a total of 7 or 8 hours.
I immediately brought them in and candled them. There were 2 undeveloped eggs and 9 have fully developed chicks!!! I saw no movement but quickly put them in my incubator. I have other eggs in the bator as well that have two more weeks:-0 i have the humidity a little high for the eggs that are supposed to hatch at bout 65, Temp is 99-100

 

[chooks4life]

They should be fine having been left cold for only a few hours. As for incubator information, the only incubators I am familiar with are covered with feathers and have minds of their own, lol, sorry but I can't be of any assistance there.

Best wishes.

 

[Kellyluvschicks]

Haaahaa!! Thanx again for the info! I just checked on the eggs and I can hear chirping in one!!!! I'm thrilled!

 

[chooks4life]

Haaahaa!! Thanx again for the info! I just checked on the eggs and I can hear chirping in one!!!! I'm thrilled!

Great to hear! You're welcome. Good thing you didn't throw them!

I was just looking at another site and reading the usual 'temperature must be maintained at such and such a level throughout incubation' and I was thinking of people in your situation, sometimes they end up throwing fertile and live eggs because of such information... Best wishes with your hatch.

 

[Tuhmu]

So did the broody hen ever try returning to the nest?