Really? The wrong nest?

Mrs. K

Crossing the Road
14 Years
Nov 12, 2009
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western South Dakota
I have an experienced hen sitting tight as a tick, know she was in the right space this morning. Tonight, wrong nest! Swear! The eggs were cool to the touch she is 10 days from hatch date, I tried to candle, but they have dark shells, can't see anything.

So..... are they done or could they hatch? Fiddle sticks

Mrs K
 
They make you want to tear your hair out don't they. The eggs should still have a good chance of hatching as long as they didn't freeze, and it seems that any surviving chicks shouldn't have problems because of it from the article. I've had similar things happen (or the power go out when I was not home in incubated eggs) and still had fine hatches.
Brinsea has a nice article on temp effects http://www.brinsea.com/Articles/Advice/PowerOff.aspx
"The cooling delays hatching but not by as much as the period of chilling - so there appears to
be some degree of compensation. The older the embryo, the more likely it is to die as a result
of chilling to below 27°C/80.6°F but the effect on surviving embryos is not detrimental."
 
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I've never heard of that! Silly bird. Hope it all works out for yu!
 
I have an experienced hen sitting tight as a tick, know she was in the right space this morning. Tonight, wrong nest! Swear! The eggs were cool to the touch she is 10 days from hatch date, I tried to candle, but they have dark shells, can't see anything.

So..... are they done or could they hatch? Fiddle sticks

Mrs K

I think they should still be ok and have a good chance of hatching.

I had one broody who regularly went off for a wander during the day for several hours, and still hatched 6 out of 7 eggs successfully!

I guess at the end of the day you have to trust in them that they know what they're doing. With that I mind, I would certainly pick her up and pop her back on the right nest if I found her sitting somewhere by mistake.

Poor things, they are tired and hungry just like pregnant women can be, and sometimes I think they just get confused!

Krista
 
A friends broody did that repeatedly, as well as spent quite a bit of time off the nest, but it was during very warm days and she still had a pretty good hatch.

Some cooling during an incubation is not as bad as overheating.
 
Last year, we did get a terrible heat spell, nearly 110 degrees F, and none of them hatched.

We will see, she is in the right place tonight, about a week to go.

Mrs K
 

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