[egglady]

we had a broody & gave her 8 eggs.  she has been sitting on them faithfully for nearly three weeks.  tomorrow was their due day to hatch.  so why oh why did she just up and leave them yesterday?

we were lying in bed last night and my darling husband said "oh i forgot to tell you the broody is off the eggs"....by the time i checked them they were stone cold so no point in putting them in the incubator.  and when did he notice???  hours previously!!!  when maybe, just maybe, they could have been save...how could he have been such a dunderheed!!

anyway, out of interest, and becuase i thought i should, i opened each of the eggs this morning.  2 of them were duds, but the other 6 had perfectly formed wee chicks in them. 

so what might have happened - so i can hopefully not repeat the experience again

[jameslindsay]

Thats a shame Laura, wonder why the wee bitch decided enough was enough???

[Fleecewife]

I wonder how long she had been broody before you put the eggs under?  They must have a timing method so they know when to assume their eggs are dud.  However, if they were due to hatch the next day then the chicks inside the eggs should have been beginning to cheep which she would have heard. Bummer 

[TheCaptain]

Gutted for you. 

 My first hatch out of our incubator had two perfectly formed that never made it out, which I was pretty sad about - no idea why they didn't make it out or make any attempt to.

My wife keeps on reminding me to not count my chickens before they've hatched - there is some truth in old wives tales!!!

[egglady]

i know, i thought they would have been cheeping at her so that seemed strange to me too.
i'm now wondering if it's too late to stick some more in the incubator - will they be strong enough by winter do you think?

[jameslindsay]

I have successfully hatched and raised ducks later in the year than this so you should be ok.

[bamford6]

i teach the broodis to hatch i give them a number 1 to 10 i then put eggs in the incubater check alls well fertility etc i leave them 2 weeks and then i put the eggs under her i do this first season then when I'm Happy IL let them have the rare eggs .i also make the broodis light Sussex hen road island cock all sext Link so only hens copper tops will go broodey 3 or 4 times a season but thats not the best my best girls are wyndotts 12 eggs under a bantam is no problem iff the hen is onley 5 to 7 i dont bother letting them go broodey

[Roxy]

Sorry this has happened.  Bit strange she went off broody so close to hatching.  When Hatching is near, my broodies do not leave the nest, they seem to know.  Had something scared her do you think?

One of my broodies was a few days off hatching, she left the nest, and I always check she is back on before going to work etc.  well, she was off for quite a while when I remembered she was out.  Eggs were stone cold, but put her back on, and 5 hatched out of 7. The other two were duds.

[Anke]

Just hatched 17 out of 24 in the incubator, but also had two dead in shell, never tried to get out, other five were duds.

But also have abroody sitting on 5 eggs, unfortunately one is cracked as she managed to keep it stuck to her bum somehow as OH took her off for her corn/toilet break the other day and it fell off outside.... Another two broodies lasted about a week and 10days and then gave up, as incubator was full at the time I lost those eggs.

I find that first year broodies quite often get bored/hungry/whatever and get off the nest about a week/few days in... even found some starting to eat the eggs last year! I actually prefer the incubator now to broodies... but it is mpore work for you with feeding/lamp etc.

[Castle Farm]

If a broody comes off the eggs it can be from lice or red mite eating at her while she is sitting.

[egglady]

i think it might be red mite eating at her.  we put vaseline on her comb but i noticed that she keot shaking her head the other day - that kind of fits the bill i think......?

[Roxy]

There is a lot of people struggling with red mite at the moment.  I dusted my small coop, as I had seen some, and all the hens.  Couple of days later, they were back, so had to repeat it.

[Anke]

We have not had red mite this year, but have made two changes since last:
1) We have painted the inside shed with creosote, as was done in the past. (of course all dry before any hens came in)
2) We use plastic containers as nest boxes, inside the chickenhouse. Works very well, easy to clean too.

No red mites this year (yet), but it's not that hot up here, and has bucketed it down today.... (my hay is still uncut....)

[Sharondp]

It's a shame you didn't put them in the incubator.
My broody was killed by a fox at 18 days. Two surviving eggs, stone cold when I picked them up, they hatched in the incubator 

Red mite seems to be rife at the moment - could be the reason - or lice? I always give my broodies a good dusting when they first start sitting.

I have read about creosote creating 'mite free coops' elsewhere Anke - there definitely seems to be somethnig that they don't like in it....

[Fleecewife]

Another way to attack red mite is to burn them. Every time we muck out the houses we use a 'weed wand' around all the edges, lift out the perches and frazzle where the ends slot in, walls, inside roof, round the pophole, nest boxes etc.  It gets a bit exciting when the cobwebs catch fire.  Our hen houses are converted garden sheds from B&Q 10% off day - add a pophole and nest boxes and you have a cheap house you can stand up in. We re-creosote them once a year but the frazzling is done every week. Another use for the weed wand is to start bonfires, but we never use it for burning growing weeds (kills all the beneficial insects too).