Will broody hen eggs survive a storm?

[ChickenMom04]

My broody Khaki Campbell duck has been sitting on a clutch of 6 eggs for about 2-ish weeks now (we are not able to find the exact date she started sitting). Her nest is in the corner of our outdoor open air pen, and the fencing around her is roughly 4 or 5 feet high. She nested in long grass so the intense sun over the past few days has been a little less strong since the grass somewhat provides a little shade. We’re supposed to be getting a storm in a few hours, and there’s a chance of hail, although we never get hail any bigger than a pea. Because her nest is open to the elements and too far from the duck house for me to carefully transport them inside, I’m worried the rain could hurt her eggs. Her mate always watches out for her but isn’t the brightest, so I’m a little worried that if we got hail he would try to stay outside with her instead of going in. Any advice?

 

[Birdie mom]

My broody Khaki Campbell duck has been sitting on a clutch of 6 eggs for about 2-ish weeks now (we are not able to find the exact date she started sitting). Her nest is in the corner of our outdoor open air pen, and the fencing around her is roughly 4 or 5 feet high. She nested in long grass so the intense sun over the past few days has been a little less strong since the grass somewhat provides a little shade. We’re supposed to be getting a storm in a few hours, and there’s a chance of hail, although we never get hail any bigger than a pea. Because her nest is open to the elements and too far from the duck house for me to carefully transport them inside, I’m worried the rain could hurt her eggs. Her mate always watches out for her but isn’t the brightest, so I’m a little worried that if we got hail he would try to stay outside with her instead of going in. Any advice?

You could take a risk and leave them be, try to move them, or put them into an incubator (if you have one).

If the hen is still sitting on them during the rain, the I would leave them be. If she moves, I would take the eggs out of the rain, and replace them with golf balls or other egg-like objects, so that when she comes back, she will be fooled into sitting on the nest-and then you can just slip the real eggs back in later.

Does that make sense?