Are my broody hens eggs supposed to lay from under her at times?

[AAJ]

Sometimes when I go check on my broody hen one or two of the eggs are laying out from under her. Is this supposed to happen?

 

[bloom chicks]

I'm new to this but I am pretty sure she is suppose to lay on them!

BTW

 

[gryeyes]

I'll bet you a quarter that egg isn't developing, and she senses it. So she pushed it out.

Two OTHER possibilities:
1) That egg was in the center of the clutch and got too warm, so she moved it out to cool a bit.
2) There are too many eggs under her, she cannot cover them all.

 

[curious1969]

Quote:
X2 Have you tried candling the ones she pushes from the nest?

 

[Me & Jack]

I had that happen once, too, with a silkie pullet. Don't think I ever figured out what the problem was but I took the eggs and tried to incubate it: DOA.

 

[Arielle]

I had a hen go broody so gave her about 15 blue EE eggs. In a few weeks the number had grown to about 40 eggs and she couldn't cover them all. However she never pushed any out, just too many to cover. (Other hens were adding to her clutch!) I let her decide which to cover as I already had plenty of chicks.

If these eggs are important to you, you could put them in an incubator if you have one and see if they develop.

GL