I am so glad it is working.... a bit of peace and quiet time may help her settle in. Give her a few days to see if she leaves the nest for food and bathroom breaks and returns to the nest and settles herself back in. If she is able to follow that routine for a few days then you can try her on some real eggs. Make sure to let us know how she does over the next couple of weeks.
Update on the two broody Dorkings. Everything is going well. I left hen #4 in the elongated cage with only her nest, food, and water, and covered the entire cage with a light sheet. I checked on her twice a day, and she settled in quite well. Hen #1 has been totally unaffected, as much as I can tell.
After 36 hours, I couldn't see any evidence that hen #4 had left the nest at all, so I got her off the nest and took her into a separate room in the barn. (I know, I'm not supposed to disturb broody hens, and I'm not recommending that anyone else do this, because for many hens it would break their brood. But these hens are extremely tame, handled and loved on daily, and they are very committed broodies once they get going. I like to get them off their nest twice a day, make sure they eat, drink, poop, stretch, flap, play a little, get weighed a few times a week, move the inevitable mucous out of their upper respiratory tract by moving around more than just getting up and grabbing a bite to eat, that sort of thing. I always cover their eggs with a clean, warm towel and bubble wrap immediately after picking the hen up. They stay off for 15-25 minutes, then their "egg timer goes off." It's pretty funny. They'll be in the middle of almost frantic play and then all of a sudden they stop, get a slightly glazed look on their face, puff up and start clucking insistently. When that happens I immediately pick them up and take them to their nest, uncover their eggs, and they make the happiest sounds as they settle back over their nest, tucking each egg into the preferred spot.) Anyway, I lifted her off the nest and took her to the separate room and petted her until she came out of her trance. Wow, she woke up in an almost explosive fit of hunger. Ten minutes of frantic eating, drinking, scratching (I put their favorite treats between two towels to encourage them to scratch and exercise), flapping, flying onto my shoulder and chirping with happiness, cuddling, etc. I was exhausted just watching her. Then she suddenly realized that she hadn't preened in two days and went to work on her feathers like a madwoman! Then more activity, pooping, eating, drinking, then 20 minutes after she was taken off her nest the "egg timer went off." She suddenly stopped, looked very confused, started pacing and clucking, so I picked her up and took her back to her cage. She looked around, saw her ceramic eggs and settled back on her nest with happy sounds and egg nuzzling, then back in her trance.
So at this point everything seems to be going well. I'm thinking I'll remove the sheet over the cage, but otherwise keep everything as is, with hen #4 in the same pen but a separated cage, until after the chicks hatch. If the two hens don't try to fight through the wire once they "wake up," then maybe open the wire holes large enough for the chicks to pass through to see if the hens try to kill each other's chicks (only during supervision, of course). If that goes well, then maybe see if the hens will co-brood in the same pen. That would make things much easier, but of course there's always a risk that chicks will be injured or killed. Does that seem reasonable, or too risky?
On another subject, there have been two posts recently about cleaning eggs in a nest that have been soiled by the contents of a broken egg. One person cleaned them with a minimum amount of water on a washcloth, dried them, and was careful to keep the air sac upright. The other person cleaned them off "as best I could without using water." The person who did waterless cleaning had a full hatch, even though from the post I'm left with the impression that the cleaning was incomplete. The person who used the moist washcloth still has the eggs under the hen, so no addition information there. Other than using gloves or washing your hands thoroughly before handling eggs so as not to introduce any new types of bacteria to the shell, what is the "official" recommendation for when this happens? Have any studies been done on the subject? Is thorough cleaning beneficial, even if it involves water? If water is used, is it best to dry the egg afterwards or does the action of drying disturb the bloom even further? Or is leaving some debris on the eggshell best, because disturbing the bloom is worse than the egg debris, even though the debris is a nutrient source for bacteria? Would the answer be different if the egg was soiled with broody poo vs the contents of a broken egg? Is keeping the air sac elevated important? I'd love to hear what everyone would do (has done) in this situation, and their opinions on the above questions.
--April
. Many of the eggs have dried yolk on them as well as the hen. I tried to scrape off the yolk from the eggs, but didn't go as far as scrubbing them clean. I made a new nesting box with new bedding and moved the eggs. She took to the new nest and is still sitting. Should I clean the eggs off more thoroughly? Should I start pulling her off the nest every other day? Are the yolk covered eggs doomed? Help
