What are my chances???

[Country Gal]

So I've had a broody hen for about a week and a half. She was sitting on ONE egg and I didn't know whether it was viable or not.

Today I think I made a BIG mistake! I went into the coop to lay fresh straw and while I was in there I noticed that they had finished their food so I refilled it. At some point, she must have gotten either agitated or hungry and jumped out of the box. While she was out of the box, I went ahead and put fresh straw in the box she was sitting in (she had kicked ALL of the existing straw out) and also added 2 of the fresh eggs that were laid that day so that she would have more than 1.

She never got back on the eggs! She stood in front of the box for a while, and I thought she would get back in, but when I went to close up the coop for the night, she was roosting with the rest of the birds.

I don't have an incubator yet, so I didn't have a back up plan. In the meantime, I ordered some additional hatching eggs to give her (I figured it was a good opportunity to add a new breed) which will probably arrive tomorrow.

What are my chances that she'll go broody again within the next day or two???

 

[hinkjc]

If she's on the roost I say doubtful.

Jody

 

[Country Gal]

Bummer... I'll be frantically trying to build an incubator tomorrow after work...

 

[beebiz]

Hey Country Gal! I'm sorry to hear about your plight! And, I hate to sound so pessimistic. But, from my experience with my hens, it definately sounds like you might want to either use the new eggs for an omelette, or get an incubator..... quick! In times past, if one of my broody acting hens went to roost with the rest of the flock, she didn't return to the nest.

You said that she had been sitting on the one egg for about a week and a half. That is plenty of time for embryo development to begin. With the cooler temps that we have now, it won't take many hours for the fragile embryo to get chilled and die. So, I don't know as I would mess with the one egg. But, you'll have to quickly do something with the new eggs that are comming. Remember that every day that an egg ages beyond 7 days (without being incubated), the chance that it will hatch is greatly reduced.

Good luck,
Robert

 

[Country Gal]

Yup, the fresh eggs went in the fridge. I'll be using my lunch hour at work tomorrow to get the supplies to build an incubator and building it as soon as I get home for the new eggs.

I feel horrible - I cracked open the single egg since I knew I wasn't going to be able to save it at that point. I'll never do that again!