Question about broody hen

[crazyfeathers]

Hello,
I need some information, I have a broody hen and I have fertile eggs. I am in Wisconsin and it is very cold right now. My coop is not heated, just a heat lamp. Can the eggs stay in the nesting box with the broody, I noticed if I leave eggs in the boxes she is sitting on them not 100% of the time though. Will she sit when she has a larger clutch of eggs or is it too cold for me to even think about leaving my hen hatch out chicks. If she is not setting on the eggs all the time will they freeze?
I have read some people saying that they take eggs out of the refrigerator and put them in the incubator, Is this correct? The embryo doesn't freeze?
Sorry if these seem like silly questions, but I have a lot of them. lol
Should I wait till spring to let her hatch out some chicks?
Thank you in advance for your input.

 

[Kelsie2290]

How often and how long is she getting off the eggs? From what you are saying she is not setting that well right now? A broody that is really in the mode will usually only get off about once a day and not for long. Eggs will take awhile to drop in temperature, even if it is really cold, so if she is only off for a few minutes they should be OK, but if she is leaving for long periods of time or a couple of times a day, their chances of hatching will be lower. 28.4 seems to be the temperature under which a hatching egg can't drop or they will be damaged and not hatch at all, so refrigerated eggs that hadn't started to develop can hatch if you set them, and depending on the age of the embryo even developing eggs can take some pretty low temperatures depending on the age. Brinsea has a nice article on hatching eggs / embryos and what effects temperature has on them.
http://brinsea.com/customerservice/poweroff.html

 

[crazyfeathers]

Thanks Kelsie,
I already read this link, I found it on another post (very helpful). I know right now she is getting off the nest too much but I think I will mark a few eggs and leave them in there and see if it makes her want to sit. How many eggs are in a clutch? She is a Buff Orphington. Thank you for responding to my post, it seems like whenever I post I never get a response, very discouraging. Have a great day!

 

[Kelsie2290]

Do you have any fake eggs? I usually use fake eggs in a nest when I am testing a broody, and collect the real eggs and store them. How many eggs are in a clutch depends on the hen, I have silkies who seem to think that laying one egg constitutes a reason to go broody Some hens will lay for months before going broody, especially hatchery Orpingtons that are pretty good layers, Most standard hens seem to have clutches around 12-18 eggs though. Usually I just figure out how many eggs I want to set under her (if I am setting her eggs back) and just collect the eggs and store them until she sets... date each egg and once I have the number I want replace the oldest egg with the newer one until she decides she is really broody.

 

[crazyfeathers]

I only have the plastic eggs right now and they don't seem to care about them at all. I also tried golf balls they don't care about them either. Thanks again.