Broken egg under my broody hen

[KIWI CHICK]

Hubby and I came home from a week and a half away on holiday so my sons were babysitting the hens for me. 'Freckles' was clucky before we went so I gave her 10 eggs to sit on. When I lifted her up to check on her eggs, one of the eggs has broken and some of the remaining ones have dried yolk on them. Help...what do I do? Do I leave them as they are, or do I give them a wash to remove the mess? They have another 9 days to go before they are due to hatch. Thank you for any advice!

 

[Sonya9]

If there is just a tiny bit of dried yolk I may not wash the egg, but you do need to clean that nest box. You don't want ants or other pests coming in, that can drive off a broody or kill hatching chicks.

I would change the bedding but use caution when it comes to washing eggs. Has it completely dried? Can a bit be gently scraped off? If it is just a little bit of dried yolk on some eggs I might not mess with it. If you wash the entire egg you remove the bloom which protects the chick from germs.

Do you know how to candle eggs? Might be a good time to learn, there are plenty of youtube videos.

 

[KIWI CHICK]

Oops yes, I should have said that I put her in a nice clean new nest
A couple of the eggs are pretty covered in the dried yolk so maybe tomorrow I will try and scrape it off. And yes, it's about time I learned to candle eggs! These eggs are PBR from my own flock. The girls are a few years old now and I haven't actually seen Artemis Fowle Jr do what he should be doing, so I may well be waiting in vain anyway!