The mystery of the disappearing broody eggs?

[KnittingChick3]

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.)

 

[song of joy]

It sounds like the broody hen is breaking and eating the eggs. Does she have a constant food and water supply available inside her cage? If so, perhaps she's not cut out to be a reliable broody hen.

How long has she been setting so far? If it's already been close to 3 weeks, she might not persist in finishing 10 more days of incubation for the remaining egg. However, it's worth a try to see what happens. This may help you decide whether or not to use her as a broody hen in the future.

 

[azygous]

Occam's Razor - the simplest explanation is usually the right one. Given that no other chickens can get into the cage and the broody is unable to get out (right?), Specky probably ate the eggs that went missing.

As for allowing her to continue to incubate the single egg, why not? If that egg "disappears" too, it's all over, and you will know not to have this hen waste time and eggs in the future. But if she manages to incubate the egg to hatch, hens can rear a single chick as easily as multiple chicks. I've seen single hatches grow up to be self confident and very normal chickens.

 

[KnittingChick3]

Yes, she has constant food and water in her cage.
And yes, she probably is eating them. Maybe they weren't viable or something. It was just weird that they vanished without a trace. I've had egg eating hens before and normally there's some evidence left behind...
This is day 11 for this batch of eggs, but from when she first decided to go broody until now has been about 2 months. So she's got the dedication to sit, but if she's this clumsy or cannibalistic now, I wonder how she would be with a chick(s).

 

[azygous]

Leave her alone and see what happens. It's what I'd do.

But two months broody is a long stretch. I wouldn't let her go longer than it will take to complete incubation, another ten days.

 

[song of joy]

That's a very long time for her to be broody, especially considering a hen will lose about 20% of her body weight during a 3-week incubation period. The prolonged broodiness and associated weight loss may be contributing to nutritional deficiencies that are prompting her to eat the eggs.

I'd recommend giving her one mashed, scrambled egg every other day for the next couple of weeks as a supplement to her regular food. This will give her much needed protein, fat, minerals and vitamins. If at all possible, use free-range eggs.

 

[KnittingChick3]

In case anyone is interested in the outcome:
I gave Specky some scrambled eggs for a few days and that seemed to go well. August 2nd was supposed to be the 3 week mark. I candled the egg again a couple days before and it didn't look like there was anything in it. My husband forgot to let Specky back in after her daily exercise one day and she was out way too long; I thought the egg might have cooled off and died, but I decided to wait until hatch day just to make sure.
So hatch day came and when my daughter went out to do chicken chores she said "the egg is gone. She ate the last egg". I said, ok we're ending this broody thing. While we were cleaning out the nest, we found the dead chick. I don't know if the chick had hatched and she killed it, or if she pecked it out of the egg and killed it. It was fully formed as far as I could tell. I don't know if she knew there was something wrong with it and she killed it as a natural selection thing or if she is just a REALLY bad chicken mom.
Either way, she's never going to be allowed to brood again and we may decide to have chicken noodle soup, we haven't decided yet...
It was sad, but I'm kind of glad that I didn't have to figure out what to do about a single chick; if it would be able to deal on it's own or if we should get MORE chicks as companions for it.

 

[song of joy]

Thanks for the update. So much of chicken keeping is watching carefully and adjusting our management decisions based on observed behaviors.

BTW - I also had a "homicidal hen" that was a great setter but a terrible mother who attacked newly-hatched chicks. She was exceptionally good in soup though!