Broody and Broken Egg

[kgilmore1]

I have a broody hen on day 20 and when I was removing the fresh eggs tonight I noticed that she broke an egg. It was just smashed on one side on the pointy end. And she was pecking the absolute crap out of it and growling! Definitely not assisting it but making the membranes bleed and eating them. It was still breathing and moving but just did not seem ready yet but I'm no expert. I moved it to her rear very fast so hopefully she will leave it alone. Will she kill all these chicks? I'm very nervous to leave them with her now but I'm trying to let nature take its course. I snapped a quick picture, sorry it's blurry but I was moving fast and wasn't about to remove it again for a clearer picture. The humidity here is 68% so maybe it won't dry out too much but I don't have much hope for it. Should I go buy an incubator in the morning or let it be?

 

[Squishychicken]

I'd just check every so often and hope nothin else goes wrong

 

[ChickenCanoe]

She may not kill them all. The less intervention you do yourself, the better.
You can cover the missing shell with liquid skin bandage.

 

[kgilmore1]

Sadly she killed that chick. From what I could see she has several that are starting to hatch so hopefully she doesn't do it to all.

 

[kwhites634]

Sadly she killed that chick. From what I could see she has several that are starting to hatch so hopefully she doesn't do it to all.

Sounds odd, but hopefully there was something wrong with that one chick, although most times the hen will just reject a bad egg (they can tell) & push it out of the nest.

 

[kgilmore1]

She's doing so good now! If only that chick could have lasted one more day before getting cracked. Three chicks I can see around her and I'm sure more to come.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

That's great. They are best left to their own devices with no human intervention. That broken shell may not have been her fault. It could have been a very fragile shell that any movement would have damaged.