KnittingChick3
Chirping
- May 19, 2017
- 35
- 79
- 69
I have a first time broody, Speckled Sussex over 1 year old. Her eggs are dissapearing.
At first I tried to break her of her broodiness, but she refused so I decided why not. First I gave her 3 fake eggs for a few day to make sure she was serious, then gave her 3 fertilized (or so I thought... ) real eggs. When candling day came, they were duds. So we got 5 fertilized eggs from a friend. After a few days, one egg was found with the top broken open and nothing inside (just an empty shell "bowl"). Then 2 just disappeared. My daughter said there were 4 when she let Specky out for her exercise, but when I went out to candle these later that same night there were only 2. No evidence of broken eggs, no bits of shell. Then the next morning one was crushed! (It was viable too, I checked the remains and there was a 10 days worth embryo.) So from 5 eggs down to 1!
She's in a dog crate in the coop, so the other hens can still see her but can't get to her or the eggs. The wires of the crate are close enough together so that even if a snake or rat could get in, it couldn't get back out with an egg (eggs won't fit through the wires.)
I had to clean out the cage/nest because of the broken one and found no evidence of the other two; they just vanished.
It's just weird...
Also, now I'm left with trying to decide what to do with the remaining viable egg... do I let her keep sitting on it and see what happens or do I take away and 'abort' it at 11 days incubated?
(Don't know if it's significant, but she refused to sit in a nesting box with her eggs. I tried a couple different boxes, but she just wanted to sit on a bed of shavings on the floor of the cage.)
At first I tried to break her of her broodiness, but she refused so I decided why not. First I gave her 3 fake eggs for a few day to make sure she was serious, then gave her 3 fertilized (or so I thought... ) real eggs. When candling day came, they were duds. So we got 5 fertilized eggs from a friend. After a few days, one egg was found with the top broken open and nothing inside (just an empty shell "bowl"). Then 2 just disappeared. My daughter said there were 4 when she let Specky out for her exercise, but when I went out to candle these later that same night there were only 2. No evidence of broken eggs, no bits of shell. Then the next morning one was crushed! (It was viable too, I checked the remains and there was a 10 days worth embryo.) So from 5 eggs down to 1!
She's in a dog crate in the coop, so the other hens can still see her but can't get to her or the eggs. The wires of the crate are close enough together so that even if a snake or rat could get in, it couldn't get back out with an egg (eggs won't fit through the wires.)
I had to clean out the cage/nest because of the broken one and found no evidence of the other two; they just vanished.
It's just weird...
Also, now I'm left with trying to decide what to do with the remaining viable egg... do I let her keep sitting on it and see what happens or do I take away and 'abort' it at 11 days incubated?
(Don't know if it's significant, but she refused to sit in a nesting box with her eggs. I tried a couple different boxes, but she just wanted to sit on a bed of shavings on the floor of the cage.)