Why did she abandon eggs?

[racuda]

I have a Silkie tat has been sitting on 10 eggs for a week. Today she was off of them and sitting in an empty nest. The eggs were cold, but I put her back on them and she started tucking them under her like all was well. Hopefull they will be okay. So far she is still on them.

Why would she leave her eggs like that? I have a broody Cochin, should I give the Silkie eggs to her in case it happens again?

 

[Oven Ready]

Ours do it sometimes, it's like with all the excitment of eating they forget where they left their eggs.
I doesn't matter much here because it's so warm, but even on days when it's 44C eggs left alone for a while still feel cold but they must be somewhere near ambient temperature. We just lift the girls up and put them back on their eggs. Some girls are much more 'forgetful' than others - or they go to the wrong nest completely and snuggle in with someone else.

Sometimes, it makes me wonder why chickens haven't made themselves extinct.

 

[racuda]

When I say the eggs were "cold" that is relative. It was 92F yesterday, so they weren't too cold, although not nearly as warm as your 44C (111F) days!

 

[Oven Ready]

92F shouldn't be a problem unless she was off for a very long time. She'll probably never do it again with this clutch, we don't have girls who habitually leave their eggs, you know, I couldn't point at one girl and say 'she leaves her eggs all the time' they all seem to do it from time to time.

Have you checked that she has the right amount of eggs under her? Sometimes ours like to sneak an egg under someone else, especially when they are off for food then when the real mum returns she finds her nest full of chicken and sits somewhere else.

You'd think they'd go back on their own but it seems that once they've settled down in to a comfortable position the brain shuts off - a bit like me

 

[Guinea Goonie]

We have a "wild game" hen that sat her eggs and then yesterday she got off the nest and went back up to the barn with the rest of the chicken.
FOUR peeps came and we helped them out of thier shells. One died last night, the intestens came partially out and it was a very small chick.
The other three are doing good with a ceramic heat source for the night time.

We are going to have to bring them into the "mud room" because moma is not there to protect them. We will let you know what comes of this little clutch.