Blood on Eggshells?

[GreenEggsDee]

Hi from a newbie

After some flock re-arranging, I now keep 6 bantam americauna hens which were all hatched last June by my last flock.

1. 2 are broody and I am unable to break them. With no rooster, their efforts are obviously fruitless. I remove them from the nestbox and the eggs twice a day. Is this okay for them?

2. More importantly, I found 2 eggs today which look like they are smeared with dried blood on the eggshell. Has anyone seen this? I can't seem to find a prior post that is similar.

Thanks for any and all responses!

Dee

 

[Wolf-Kim]

It's perfectly fine to throw broodies out of the nest, doesn't mean they'll quit being broody. If you have a wire bottom cage that you can put in the coop(or somewhere safe), try keeping them in that for a while, I've heard that will help break-up a broody. Or you could give them something to hatch and not let their efforts go to waste.

I get eggs that have blood on them every now and then. I think it is fairly normal and the eggs are fine to eat. As long as the eggs aren't bloody on a regular basis I wouldn't worry about it. I have also noticed that sometimes the blood comes from another source, for instance in my case it was coming from hen's feet because a certain broody was jealously guarding the nest and pecking anyone who came near. The blood just transferred from the feet to the eggs during laying. Since you have two broodies it just may be a similar case. Check the feet of your non-broodies and see if they're getting pecked because they want in the broodies' nests.

-Kim

 

[GreenEggsDee]

Thanks Kim!
There will be a foot check tonight.