Up Date on my setting Hen

[Cackel]

Well I read on here somewhere yesterday that someone feed their hen while she was on the nest ,So I got a little cracked corn and lay it next to mines nest yesterday morning and when I went back a few hours she was gone,I waited untill last night after dark and went again to check on her and she still was not there, So I got the eggs and put them in and incubator , She was suppose to hatch them on Dec.4 .Wonder what will happen now ?

 

[panner123]

If the incubator was heated up and holding a steady temp, all should be O K. Usually you can't drive a hen off the nest that close to hatching. In you other post about candling, did you? The hen might know something you don't.
If the eggs are bad, the hen will leave them. In that case you are wasting your time. I hand feed my brooding hens all the time with no ill affect.

 

[Rufflemyfeathers]

How would the hen know if the eggs were bad?? I would like to know as I am new at this hatching stuff.. Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving to all.

 

[Southernbelle]

No one really knows how they can tell, but they just seem to know.

One of my broodies kept kicking eggs out, whenever I saw her do it, I'd check the egg and she was always right. After candling, I'd crack it open and the embryo was always dead. She started with 14 and is down to 8. Hopefully the rest will hatch.

 

[panner123]

Quote:
This is something only the hen knows for sure. It is like a woman having a miscarriage. The body knows something is wrong. My only thoughts on this would be the mama hen knows how many days she has been sitting and that some eggs have no heart beat or movement. So she kicks the egg out of the nest. She doesn't want it to blow up in the nest and kill the rest of the eggs. If you have leaky egg or a bad smell coming from your bator you know it is time to get rid of a bad egg.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Is the hen just staying off the nest or is she gone from the yard? I hope it's not the latter.

It's hard to say what is going on in these tiny bird brains of theirs. Sometimes they display uncanny insight & wisdom, able to discern problems inside the eggs they're setting. Other times, something just upsets the spell of their broodiness, and they'll quit right in the middle of the job.

I know some folks think you should bring broodies breakfast in bed, but I never do. I just make sure they have food & water available, whether they're confined to a cage or just in a corner of the coop. I trust them to know just how much sustenance they need, I don't think they'll let themselves starve or dehydrate. While they're just setting, they really don't need much, they're not moving around & expending much energy. They will care for their needs as well as they care for their eggs.

If you really really want these eggs to hatch then you should at least try to continue them in the incubator. Otherwise, you could bury them under a favorite bush and let the hen try again some time.