Will eggs hatch on their own?

[NicoleM1020]

So I have an escape artist hen that has been flying over the fence for the past 4 days and laying her eggs somewhere in the woods behind our house. I tried to follow her today in hopes she would lead me right to her secret nest but she was too fast and I ended up losing her. I looked everywhere, under every tree and bush but I couldn't find where she's putting the eggs. There's lots of brush so she could be covering the nest with twigs making it even harder to find. So my question is, if I end up never finding the eggs will they hatch on their own? The weather goes up to about 90 here in Nevada during the day and goes down into the 50s at night and is very dry. I would hate for chicks to hatch out there with no one to take care of them. They wouldn't last very long as we have coyotes, raccoons etc.. I am also wondering if she shows up to her nest in a few weeks and finds that some of her eggs have hatched, would she take care of the chicks? She hasn't shown any signs of being broody.

 

[sourland]

Eggs will not hatch unless incubated by a hen.

 

[TheKindaFarmGal]

Welcome to BYC! Do you have a rooster? They won't hatch unless the hen goes broody.

 

[NanaKat]

No, eggs will not hatch unless they are incubated at 100 degrees for 21 days by a hen or an incubator. Eggs that are not fertilized by a rooster will not hatch at all.
Your hen might go broody and successfully incubate her fertilized eggs in the woods if she is not killed and eaten by a coyote.
Snake, raccoons, possum and skunks will eat eggs found in the woods.

Best advice, escape proof your run and encourage your hen to lay her eggs in a nest box...use fake eggs or golf balls to entice her on a nest.

 

[NicoleM1020]

Yes I do have roosters. We have been collecting eggs to incubate for the past few days also so my other question is if I end up finding the eggs in the next couple days are they still ok to try and hatch now that they have been sitting outside for 5-6 days?

 

[TheKindaFarmGal]

Yes, you could incubate them. But some might not hatch. If you find the nest, I would just choose the ones that look the most fresh to hatch and throw out the others.