Oh No!

[rlhagan56]

Well, with some eggs almost ready to hatch, I found my broody this morning on another nest on other eggs. She left the nest and the eggs are cold, I grabbed her fluffy butt and put her in front of the original nest and she climbed back in. Are these eggs completely non viable now? She is top dog in the hen house so no one forced her to leave, I'm so exasperated! Should I just give up and throw them away?

I probably posted in the wrong place.

 

[JubileeFarmer]

It will depend on how long she was off the eggs but don't give up yet. If she was in the wrong nest overnight then it may be too late but if she switched nests this morning you're probably okay. Wait until the eggs are warm again and then candle them to see if there is movement.

My broody hen went to the wrong nest several times and I had to put her back on the correct nest. That was in early March when it was cold out and the eggs were cold to the touch a couple of times but 10 out of 12 hatched.

 

[All4Eggz]

Well, with some eggs almost ready to hatch, I found my broody this morning on another nest on other eggs. She left the nest and the eggs are cold, I grabbed her fluffy butt and put her in front of the original nest and she climbed back in. Are these eggs completely non viable now? She is top dog in the hen house so no one forced her to leave, I'm so exasperated! Should I just give up and throw them away?

I probably posted in the wrong place.

Please don't give up. It's worth a shot. At least one or two will hatch (hopefully )
Keep an eye on her so she doesn't get off again

 

[Ridgerunner]

That same thing happened to me. That hen hatched 11 chicks out of 11 eggs. Let us know how it goes.

 

[rlhagan56]

thanks you give me hope. Our rooster was found capoot a week ago and I was glad I had some fertile eggs from him. She doesn't leave that nest to eat or drink so I'm wondering why she moved.

 

[aart]

She doesn't leave that nest to eat or drink so I'm wondering why she moved.

She may have gotten up to eat and drink and poop.....then went back to the wrong nest.
How many days has she had the eggs?

 

[rlhagan56]

I don't know because my husband was taking care of things for about a week. One looks ready to hatch, since it's white it's easy to candle and the chick is still alive! The others are dark brown and blue and green, and hard to candle. Looks like they are staggered and most about 10 to 14 days I'm guessing.

 

[JubileeFarmer]

I don't know because my husband was taking care of things for about a week. One looks ready to hatch, since it's white it's easy to candle and the chick is still alive! The others are dark brown and blue and green, and hard to candle. Looks like they are staggered and most about 10 to 14 days I'm guessing.

Your hen will not sit on eggs for another week after the first one hatches. She may wait a day or two but if the others don't hatch in that time she will abandon any left on the nest. When letting a broody hen sit on eggs it's important to make sure that all eggs start at the same time. If you have an incubator you can move any eggs that she abandons to that but you probably won't be able to introduce them back to the hen when they hatch.

If you think that there is only one about to hatch now and most of the others will hatch in about a week you could sacrifice the one (if you don't have an incubator to put it in) and let her hatch out the later ones, which hopefully are within a day or two of each other.

 

[rlhagan56]

Thank you for your imput. I just needed to know if those eggs would still be viable after getting cold. I was in the hospital so I wasn't taking care of the flock my husband was.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

It's possible they're okay. We lost a broody that had just started sitting, stuck the eggs in the incubator. 1 never developed and about 17 days later had these things looking at us