Safe to eat eggs from a broody hen?

[hihuckleberry]

Hi all — i’m really new to chickens. Wondering if it’s safe to eat unfertilized eggs that have been sitting under a broody hen? i usually collect every day but missed a couple of days. Eggs smell and look normal... but were warm from her body heat. Is it ok to eat??

 

[2 many chickens]

They're probably okay but me personally wouldnt eat them. They've been sitting under a hen getting warm for a couple days. Sounds gross to me.
Also, why do you have her sitting on unfertile eggs? Kind of a waste of time for her to sit for 21 days for nothing.

 

[aart]

Hi all — i’m really new to chickens. Wondering if it’s safe to eat unfertilized eggs that have been sitting under a broody hen? i usually collect every day but missed a couple of days. Eggs smell and look normal... but were warm from her body heat. Is it ok to eat??

Eh...probably OK...but I think I'd scramble them up and feed back to birds.

Agrees, why are you letting a broody sit on infertile eggs?
Best to either give her fertile eggs to hatch or break her broodiness.
They can sit so long(sometimes way longer than 21 days) that it can degrade their health.

 

[hihuckleberry]

They're probably okay but me personally wouldnt eat them. They've been sitting under a hen getting warm for a couple days. Sounds gross to me.
Also, why do you have her sitting on unfertile eggs? Kind of a waste of time for her to sit for 21 days for nothing.

I try to break her broodiness and collect the eggs right away but every other month she’s broody again. any tips?

 

[hihuckleberry]

Eh...probably OK...but I think I'd scramble them up and feed back to birds.

Agrees, why are you letting a broody sit on infertile eggs?
Best to either give her fertile eggs to hatch or break her broodiness.
They can sit so long(sometimes way longer than 21 days) that it can degrade their health.

not letting her per se, i try to collect them daily and break her broodiness by taking her out of the nest but she goes broody every other month. i’m thinking about letting her hatch some chicks but might want to wait until spring? any suggestions?

 

[aart]

I try to break her broodiness and collect the eggs right away but every other month she’s broody again. any tips?

Collecting eggs won't break her, you need to 'cool her off'.

If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, best to break her broodiness promptly.
My experience goes about like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest, I put her in a wire dog crate with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop with feed and water.

I used to let them out a couple times a day, but now just once a day in the evening(you don't have to) and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two. Or take her out of crate daily very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate.
Chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.

 

[Geggs]

This thread is pretty old and I'm not a terribly active member. Not sure if it's relivable, but will give it a whirl. In April, I celebrated my first anniversary of having poultry. From the original flock, we kept 3 chicks, a duck and 4 geese over the winter.
One of my 3 supposedly non broody Chinese geese has taken a notion. She is faithfully sitting on a nest. The other two ladies keep climbing in next to her and laying in the same nest, but still she stays put. After she got 10 eggs in there, I marked them with blue food coloring and a cotton swab, as recommended in one of the zillions of poultry related youtube videos I've watched, and then began removing the unmarked ones.
This girl has moved her nest twice since she started setting in late April. Maybe because of the other two being so intrusive. The first time was over a week ago. I went to check on her, and here she was about a foot away from where she was last time I looked, with a lovely new nest of piled up straw and breast feathers. Then I checked the old nest.
Hmmm. Two eggs left behind. Stone cold. So I candled them. One: nothing. The other looked like something. I cracked them both open.
The first one had a runny yolk and no development. No odor. The second one had well developed blood vessels, was runny but also no odor. I cooked both and fed them to our dogs.
Then yesterday, she had done it again. Back to the original nest area. Again I checked the old nest. and again, two eggs left behind. And again, one candled infertile and the other had a lovely dark mass on one side. Even though it was pretty cold, I put it next to the goose's breast. She promptly tucked it in among the other 5 remaining. Then, worried about the possible smell, I stayed outside to crack open the undeveloped one into an old cake pan.
Surprise! It looked fine. The yolk had good color and was well formed. The white still had some body to it. There was no odor at all. So I dumped it in a bowl, mixed it up with half a cup of milk, a couple tablespoons of sugar and some spices, put it in a ramekin, covered it and set it in some simmering water. 20 minutes later, Wah La! It's a custard.
But I have not taken a bite.
I just cooled it down and put it in the fridge. It smells good, tempting in fact, also looks good, and this is one of my favorite ways to enjoy goose eggs, and yet...
So what do other poultry folks think. Safe to try or super ewww?
Blessings to all and happy bird raising!

 

[Alibabba 1]

Always the float test!

I had left too many eggs and got a first timer broody... Not 100 percent committed. ETA: love the feed back to hens solution! They have devoured some really, really gross stuff, including rotten, developing egg stuff.

So science... Probably fine, like sitting a few hot humid summer days in Pennsylvania. I've eaten those. Ya think Homo Sapiens finding random eggs were concerned about age? Also, most countries don't refrigerate eggs, because they haven't been subjected to certain processes.

I had a Cochin broody quit just before hatch during hot summer, I didn't realize it and they hatched anyway. Ha, nature.

Also, I've let them hatch any season, They'll snuggle AS THEY NEED TO. And if not, just bring chicks in, warm room. If they are quiet peeping, they are fine, if intense peeping, they're cold. They'll snuggle with each other. Heating pad, warm bathroom, etc.
IMHO There's way to much heat being used anyway.