Not sure what to do?

[barchorses52]

I have a hen that went broody 2-3 weeks ago. 2 other hens I have chased her off the eggs to lay more eggs.
I finally was able to move those hens to a different area. She is sitting on a bunch of different eggs. She got off them for a while and I was able to see what was going on. There were a lot of broken shells no babies, but there were 4 eggs that apparently got off the nest. I took them and broke them open to see if there were baby chicks. Yes 2 were and about ready to hatch, they were peeping and man I feel bad cuz really I killed them, But the question is the eggs in the nest are yucky from the 2 broken ones and the flies are all around. Do I leave it alone or clean the eggs I never had a broody hen. So I dont know what to do.

 

[JustBabyMargo]

I have a hen that went broody 2-3 weeks ago. 2 other hens I have chased her off the eggs to lay more eggs.
I finally was able to move those hens to a different area. She is sitting on a bunch of different eggs. She got off them for a while and I was able to see what was going on. There were a lot of broken shells no babies, but there were 4 eggs that apparently got off the nest. I took them and broke them open to see if there were baby chicks. Yes 2 were and about ready to hatch, they were peeping and man I feel bad cuz really I killed them, But the question is the eggs in the nest are yucky from the 2 broken ones and the flies are all around. Do I leave it alone or clean the eggs I never had a broody hen. So I dont know what to do.

Clean them. Those spoiled ones could mess up the others’ chances of hatching! Clean them quickly and gently!

 

[barchorses52]

Clean them. Those spoiled ones could mess up the others’ chances of hatching! Clean them quickly and gently!

Thank you I will do it first thing in am.

 

[BecaHawaii]

I have a hen that went broody 2-3 weeks ago. 2 other hens I have chased her off the eggs to lay more eggs.
I finally was able to move those hens to a different area. She is sitting on a bunch of different eggs. She got off them for a while and I was able to see what was going on. There were a lot of broken shells no babies, but there were 4 eggs that apparently got off the nest. I took them and broke them open to see if there were baby chicks. Yes 2 were and about ready to hatch, they were peeping and man I feel bad cuz really I killed them, But the question is the eggs in the nest are yucky from the 2 broken ones and the flies are all around. Do I leave it alone or clean the eggs I never had a broody hen. So I do

I would clean the nest not the eggs. Or as best you can. The eggs have a protective coating on them to keep bacteria out. You don't really want to wash that off.

 

[NatJ]

But the question is the eggs in the nest are yucky from the 2 broken ones and the flies are all around. Do I leave it alone or clean the eggs I never had a broody hen. So I dont know what to do.

Fresh nesting material would be a good start.

You can also try candling the remaining eggs to see if they have chicks in them. Shine a bright flashlight through the egg in a dark room, and see what you can see. For comparison, try it first with a few eggs from your refrigerator, that you know have not been developing. Then you can see if the eggs in the nest look any different.

 

[JustBabyMargo]

Oh okay! Listen to the others! I’ve never done this personally but my mom said they had to clean the eggs when this happened to one of our old hens.

 

[barchorses52]

Fresh nesting material would be a good start.

You can also try candling the remaining eggs to see if they have chicks in them. Shine a bright flashlight through the egg in a dark room, and see what you can see. For comparison, try it first with a few eggs from your refrigerator, that you know have not been developing. Then you can see if the eggs in the nest look any different.

Thats what I thought about the bloom. I would love to have a few baby chicks running around. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[JustBabyMargo]

Thats what I thought about the bloom. I would love to have a few baby chicks running around. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Keep us updated!

 

[barchorses52]

Keep us updated!

I for sure will!

 

[Lizzy733]

If the remaining eggs are damp, it may have ruined the bloom and exposed them to bacterial infection. Also if other hens are kicking her off the nest to lay, you may have eggs at various stages of development at the moment.

A fresh nest and candling any intact eggs would be best for now. Compare what you see to a basic chicken egg candling guide. A quick google image search should bring up heaps. You'll want to write down their likely age - this can be done right on the shell with a pencil - so you can keep track.

For dirty eggs with babies, they can be given a quick dip in a warm water. It should be around 100-105 degrees. You want it warmer than the egg as colder may cause the egg shell to contract and draw bacterial into the shell. After, pat them dry, but do not rub as this can push bacterial into the pores too.

You can also give them a quick pat down with a 10% bleach/water solution to kill any remaining surface bacterial.

The eggs will be fine for up to a half hour away from the broody as long as they don't get too chilled.

If you have a lot of different stages of development, you may want to make a plan for when they start hatching out as that broody won't wait forever.

You may need to get, make or borrow an incubator to finish them out. For any that need to be washed, they'd probably fare better in an incubator where you can keep things a bit cleaner.

Your broody and eggs will need to be isolated where the other girls can't add to her nest.

Check in and candle every few days to make sure they are still growing. Remove any that have failed asap so they can't cause another broken egg incident or infect the others with bacteria.