Broken, smelly, fertile eggs--What's happening?

[KatGold]

Eew. That subject line just about says it all. Nonetheless, I'm going to bend your ear here.

Okay, so I bought fertile eggs (including black copper marans which I was very excited about) for my broody hen. We are on Day 11.

About four hours ago, I checked in on her and found it to be a little smelly. I didn't know if this was to be expected or not (is it?). I left her alone.

Just now I noticed she was off the nest so I looked in. I found three broken eggs. It was quite smelly. The insides were obviously exposed. They were filled with gray goo. There seemed to be nothing that was even slightly formed into a body. FYI, it was 101 degrees today. (Did I mention it was smelly?)

What the heck? I've never done this before and am looking for some insight.

Is it possible that they were just bad so she broke them? I guess it's possible the hens were fighting over the nest box (there are two others but this is the favorite box) and they were broken accidentally--but what explains the bad smell and gray goo?

I was so sad because I've already lost three. One was broken in the first week (I think in a skirmish in the box) and two just vanished about a week ago. No sign of anything suspicious, just gone.

The box was pretty gross and had crud practically glued to the bottom. I am soaking it now and have rinsed off the remaining eggs in warm water and put them in the incubator. I probably shouldn't have done either, but I couldn't put them back in that yucky box and the hen won't lay on them anywhere else (I've tried on other days just so they wouldn't fight over that next box). And I just had to rinse them as they were sort of covered in that gray goo.

I guess the plan is to let candle them tonight and see what's up. And if the hen is still brooding, I'll try to sneak them under her when they go into lockdown. Is that the right thing to do?

Thanks for your collective wisdom.

 

[KatGold]

Oh gosh, I think I've really blown it.

I put the chicks in the incubator and just checked on them only to find that the window in my LG was off of the bator box. I did not trap any heat and the eggs were cool to the touch. I fixed up the next box and put them back under the mama.

I candled them quickly before putting them under her and they all looked good. But I didn't see any movement.

Is there any chance they could be alive still?

I think they were fine before I intervened. I am so sad and guilt ridden.

 

[KatGold]

Oh, also I think I know what happened to the missing two eggs. When I cleaned out the box it was so smelly and everything was caked on very hard. It occurred to me later that the two missing eggs were bad and broke and she buried them in the nesting material.

I can't imagine any other way for the litter to be so caked on and smelly.

 

[clio]

Quote:
The very same thing happened to my broody cochin #1 ... bad smell, disappearing eggs, and when I cleaned out the nest box after day #11 or so, I had this awful wet-dry mess under the hay. Started with 11 eggs. None of the 3 remaining eggs ever hatched, and after the first 21 days, I got another batch of eggs, 8 fertile BCM and BCM crosses ... four hatched the day after Easter, and now Mama is fiercely trying to kick the kids out from the coop!

Good luck on your hatchings