Winter Broody: How long can eggs be cold and still survive?

[CluckNDoodle]

I hope someone can give me good news...I'll start by explaining this is my first broody hen, and her first time being broody...I read absolutely everything I could find on the subject until my head was spinning so I was feeling confident that I was doing everything I was supposed to...but I made a terrible mistake!! My broody hen started sitting on eggs December 29th @ 1:00 pm. I proceeded to get everything together for what I felt was a perfectly inviting broody pen that she could comfortably incubate and start raising her chicks in, on day 13 once it was predator proofed and ready, I moved her in the middle of the night like everything I read said to do...well when I woke up the following morning she was off the eggs and frantically pacing at the door, only to dart back to her EMPTY box as soon as I opened it! It was a cold morning, maybe 40° F and the eggs were very cold to the touch. I immediately put them back underneath her in her preferred little wooden box but it's been 2 days since the incident and I'm not holding out much hope...I'm not sure if I'm asking for miracle stories or maybe if someone could tell me how long it takes for blood vessels to dissolve once a chick dies? I still see the blood vessels in all 7 eggs but I don't see any movement.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

The older the embryos the better the chances of survival. Only time will tell.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

The older the embryos the better the chances of survival. Only time will tell.

Thank you for responding!! I'm waiting, I'm just feeling extremely guilty. I'm not going to disturb the eggs again until day 17 for a final candling. I was kind of hoping someone would tell me the veins disappear overnight or something, lol. Is it normal for the embryo to rotate when the egg is turned? Not from the chick moving but from me rotating? I'm kind of thinking that's my sign that they're dead if it's not normal...

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Thank you for responding!! I'm waiting, I'm just feeling extremely guilty. I'm not going to disturb the eggs again until day 17 for a final candling. I was kind of hoping someone would tell me the veins disappear overnight or something, lol. Is it normal for the embryo to rotate when the egg is turned? Not from the chick moving but from me rotating? I'm kind of thinking that's my sign that they're dead if it's not normal...

I haven't candled enough eggs to know that one. I would think blood vessels would shrivel up after a bit but I don't know for sure unfortunately.

 

[Acre4Me]

Hopefully it works out for you!

We had a broody, after a few weeks, we gave her chicks and she mothered great!

She went broody again, and my kid wanted her to try to hatch. So, we started to collect eggs that we were interested in, and broody stayed on her fake eggs in the coop. We had a few eggs and moved her to the brooder with a nest to get her settled. It did not work -she was pacing! Luckily we hadn’t given her the eggs yet, but it surprised us. This brooder was where we moved her to give her chicks, and she did great at that time. So, sometimes they do the unexpected. Hopefully being back in her usual environment will result in chicks!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I haven't candled enough eggs to know that one. I would think blood vessels would shrivel up after a bit but I don't know for sure unfortunately.

I know at some point they dissolve and when you have an early death in an egg you might see a small embryo but no blood vessels. I guess I will see in a couple of days if there are any changes! I'm just crossing my fingers for even 1 chick to make it! I would feel terrible if I had to break my hen of her broodiness after she did all that work!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Hopefully it works out for you!

We had a broody, after a few weeks, we gave her chicks and she mothered great!

She went broody again, and my kid wanted her to try to hatch. So, we started to collect eggs that we were interested in, and broody stayed on her fake eggs in the coop. We had a few eggs and moved her to the brooder with a nest to get her settled. It did not work -she was pacing! Luckily we hadn’t given her the eggs yet, but it surprised us. This brooder was where we moved her to give her chicks, and she did great at that time. So, sometimes they do the unexpected. Hopefully being back in her usual environment will result in chicks!

I hope so too! <3 I will know from now on to always try to relocate them BEFORE giving them the viable eggs so this never happens again!

 

[Acre4Me]

I hope so too! <3 I will know from now on to always try to relocate them BEFORE giving them the viable eggs so this never happens again!

True. In addition, when this happened to me, other BYCers suggested that I make the brooder darker/less light. The brooder has solid sides, but a wire mesh top, and sits under an east facing window. It’s where the doggie type door is that we made into a pop door for when we have chickens in the brooder, so can’t move the brooder, but we can partially cover up the half with the nest in it to make it less bright. Also, we had left the pop door open and she seemed stressed being on one side of the wire fence when her flock was on the other side. So, in the future, we would not let her into the divided run until she was more settled on her new nest.

 

[WVduckchick]

Thank you for responding!! I'm waiting, I'm just feeling extremely guilty. I'm not going to disturb the eggs again until day 17 for a final candling. I was kind of hoping someone would tell me the veins disappear overnight or something, lol. Is it normal for the embryo to rotate when the egg is turned? Not from the chick moving but from me rotating? I'm kind of thinking that's my sign that they're dead if it's not normal...

At that stage, it would take a day or two to actually see the blood vessels recede if they died. I suspect the chances are good that at least some will still hatch.

The movement your are seeing... do you mean if you kinda twist the egg and that twisting motion causes it to slosh back and forth inside? Those are usually quitters. But don’t rule it out yet! How many eggs is she on?

And by the way, if that one did quit, it still may not have been because of the cold.

Good luck!

 

[GirlsMommy18]

Don't beat yourself up. They very well could hatch still.

I made a similar mistake my first hatch. It was in the low 50's and she was off the eggs for hours. Of the 4 eggs she was sitting, 2 hatched. The other 2 had porous shells, and I suspect bacteria got in. They oozed out when cracked and weren't developing right even before the move.