Will they still hatch?? Help!!

[kara_leigh]

One of my hens is broody and she has been sitting on 5 fertile eggs that are due to hatch this next weekend. My chickens free range, so I don't have a run for them. Today there was a coyote on our property, and since we lost 7 of our hens on Saturday I decided to play it safe and put all of my chickens in the coop. That was about 2 hours ago. I just went to check on them, and my broody wasn't sitting on her eggs, and they were cool to the touch!! Instead she was on the roost bars with the rest of the chickens. I'm not sure exactly how long she was off of them. I kicked all the chickens out of the coop and locked her in, and she went right over and sat back on her eggs.

Will they still hatch? I sure hope so. She is going to be heart broken if they don't. Normally at night when all the chickens are in the coop, she stays on her eggs like normal, and they have developed on track. I don't know why she wasn't on them this time.

 

[mustangsaguaro]

If you have birds that free range and have broody's, broody's will get off there eggs. I have seen mine get off there eggs anywhere from 30min-1hour. Afterall they do need to eat, drink, dust bath still. My birds free range and if I have one that goes broody and when I can't find a bird I usually know what is up. If I try to move them off there nest and put them along w/ there eggs in the coop they no longer want to sit. But sounds like yours is already in the coop w/ her nest so that is good. My last broody laid a clutch of eggs in get this a tree chipper. I had to remove her from there because I didn't want the landscaper turning it on w/ her in her. Well, lo and behold I moved her and the eggs to a safe place and she no longer wanted to sit. I think you should be ok. Hope this helps.

 

[kidcody]

Should be fine

 

[kara_leigh]

If you have birds that free range and have broody's, broody's will get off there eggs. I have seen mine get off there eggs anywhere from 30min-1hour. Afterall they do need to eat, drink, dust bath still. My birds free range and if I have one that goes broody and when I can't find a bird I usually know what is up. If I try to move them off there nest and put them along w/ there eggs in the coop they no longer want to sit. But sounds like yours is already in the coop w/ her nest so that is good. My last broody laid a clutch of eggs in get this a tree chipper. I had to remove her from there because I didn't want the landscaper turning it on w/ her in her. Well, lo and behold I moved her and the eggs to a safe place and she no longer wanted to sit. I think you should be ok. Hope this helps.

She gets off of them for 15ish minutes at a time to eat REALLY quick, grab a drink, and then runs back to the coop. Usually her eggs are still warm when she gets back to them. What concerned me this time is that they were cool to the touch, so I'm assuming she was off of them for upwards of the whole 2 hours.

She is sitting on the on the floor of the coop b/c that is where she made her nest when she became broody. We don't have a rooster, so I had to get some eggs for her. The other chickens generally don't bother her, so I just put the eggs under her and left her where she was. I have NO clue what I'm going to do when/if they hatch...but I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.