The one that got away!

[ck_dunham]

Ok so my Hen went broody a few weeks back and we let her have at it in her own place with plenty of food water and heat. Well 21 days would be this Saturday and I’ve been looking forward to seeing the outcome of all her hard work. Well she has One that’s right just one egg and I let her have that egg all she wanted. So anyway some time yesterday she went and kicked that egg out of her nest somehow. I'm guessing it was out for at least 8 hours maybe! So it’s 55 in the building. Now what? do I put the egg back in the nest and keep waiting the next few days and see the outcome or is it safe to call this trip around to be a flop? How do I go about putting her back with the flock, if its best? just wish her luck and toss her in the middle? (I won’t really toss her) She does happen to be the staple bird of my farm so her health is #1 on my list.

What should I do? Thanks for any help!

 

[Shanda]

I will start with I'm not an expert. I have just recently had my first hatch - a banty that sat on 7 eggs and 5 hatched. I think she (your mama) kicked it out of the nest because it was bad somehow. When my Rosy had hatched 5 of the eggs, she left the other two. I cracked them open just to see what was inside and it was just a rotten egg - no embryo or anything.

 

[ck_dunham]

Quote:
Its Sad but that would really be neat if their smart enough to know all that!

 

[cjatthefarm]

They ARE smart enough to know that.

It is God-given instinct.

 

[ck_dunham]

She ended up braking the egg on the 21at day anyway. What a wonderful smell. The egg itself was missing so I was afraid she ate it. Later I found the egg stuck in the fur of her rear end. Now that didn’t go well with her as I had to pull each sticky part out from her.

 

[NeeleysAVLChicks]

It's remarkable, but they do truly know. We've had several broody hens that will kick out eggs occasionally. I usually check them, and yup, always either duds or early quitters.

Sorry it didn't work out this time, next time around I would give her several eggs. If she's a LF, she can easily handle 12-18 eggs.

I don't know if you've tried to reintroduce her to the flock again, but a lot of times putting them in at night makes the re-intro easier.

Good luck!