They have all been eaten

[Dr.GarryTTucker]

So I walk out to momma hen freaking out. Squeaking up a storm! A chicken snake had crawled up and eaten momma hens eggs. In total I had 4 eggs but one got crushed and the other wasn’t fertile.
Snake has been killed but so has the last 2 eggs that were suppose to hatch on Friday.

That being said what do I do now?

 

[JennQuist]

So sorry to hear this.

 

[Chick-N-Fun]

That’s awful! I’m so sorry!!!

 

[MurrayAP]

Sorry to hear this. I just had an unfortunate situation of my own as well. Try to find where the snake got in and reinforce your enclosure. There will be other predators who will try to get in.

 

[Dr.GarryTTucker]

like. I’m beside myself. I have so many emotions. I took my anger out on the snake. But my thoughts are will mama hen still wanna sit? Will she get bored eventually leave the nest? Do I go get new eggs? Is mama hen going to be OK?

 

[MurrayAP]

like. I’m beside myself. I have so many emotions. I took my anger out on the snake. But my thoughts are will mama hen still wanna sit? Will she get bored eventually leave the nest? Do I go get new eggs? Is mama hen going to be OK?

Your hen will be okay and will likely go back to the nest. Things outside of your control do happen sometimes no matter how hard we try to prevent them, nobody is perfect. I had a fox make off with one of my drakes last summer who was out enjoying the kiddie pool in front of my barn. Now all my birds are completely enclosed.

 

[Dr.GarryTTucker]

Do I need to put more eggs under her or will she give up being broody and return to normal?

 

[Punkybrewster]

If she was sitting that long, i personally would let her break broody and give her body a rest.
Its tough on a hens body to sit on eggs for 21 days.
Now, if she had only ben sitting for a few days then i would slip her some eggs.

 

[Dr.GarryTTucker]

If she was sitting that long, i personally would let her break broody and give her body a rest.
Its tough on a hens body to sit on eggs for 21 days.
Now, if she had only ben sitting for a few days then i would slip her some eggs.

So she will naturally in a couple of days break herself?

 

[cmom]

You never know. Sometimes they will want to sit longer and sometimes not. There is no way to tell. You could slip some eggs under her and maybe she would sit on them or she may start then quit, so you would have to have a plan B like an incubator to continue incubating them. Good luck and have fun...