Broody hen breaking eggs

[thebanthams]

i have a broody hen sitting on eggs now for about a week .yesterday when i went to check her i notice a broken eggs shell on the floor of her brooding place. the is no way anything broke that egg but her ,because she is isolated by her self .it seems as though the egg was no good so she got rid of it.no sign of the yoke or anything so i'm assuming she ate it . anyone got any thought on this

Boy ! hate that when they sit on it for a while then decided to break it.

I am still trying to find out why !! My hen has not sit for a while. hope she will soon. but it will make me nervous all over again !!

 

[mommissan]

I have 2 broodies hatching. For some unknown reason, at 14 days, they cracked one and ate all of it and kicked another one out into the coop. I don't know why. Both eggs were fertile and developing well too. The remaining six they have not harmed. However, yesterday, a chick hatched and they left it exposed and uncovered. I thought it was dead (cold and lifeless) but tried to warm it in my hands anyway. Well, it moved, so I wrapped it in a dry washcloth and stuffed it in down the front of my sweatshirt. In an hour, it was peeping and active, so I returned it to the nest. No problems accepting it.

I wish I knew why they choose to keep some eggs, while they destroy and/or abandon others? Why would they leave one out in the cold? Chicken psychology..... just like chicken math- makes no sense.

 

[Hooligans7]

i have a broody hen sitting on eggs now for about a week .yesterday when i went to check her i notice a broken eggs shell on the floor of her brooding place. the is no way anything broke that egg but her ,because she is isolated by her self .it seems as though the egg was no good so she got rid of it.no sign of the yoke or anything so i'm assuming she ate it . anyone got any thought on this

I haven't experienced that, but here's what's happening in my coop:
My BSL broody hen lost interest for a few weeks and abandoned the eggs in late April, but now she's back on the nest with new eggs. All was well with three fertilized eggs until one of them broke. We didn't know what had happened when she came running and squawking out of the coop. I thought there was a wasp or something that stung her. There were no wasps, just a broken egg with a very small embryo.
So then there were two, and she sat on them for several days. We thought all was well until she came flying out of the coop again this morning. This time the broken egg contained a larger embryo with recognizable features. We cleaned up the mess once again and replaced the bedding material. Now there's just one, and I'm not very hopeful. The shells all seemed good with a uniform shape. Is she pecking at them? If so, why?
No other hens were around during those two events.

 

[Hooligans7]

mommissan, I know what you mean! My wife was pretty upset about our broody BSL breaking two viable eggs a week apart. There's just one left.

 

[Olly]

I think my white Sussex is doing the same as mommissan's hens. She's a first time broody so it may be down to that. I was away on holiday and my mum noticed one egg cracked out side of her brooding space. When I returned from my trip I found another egg intact but outside the brood and I found another today. My mum had said she saw her get out the coop with an egg stuck to the underneath of her so it's possible she's just getting out of the brood too quickly and her eggs are still tucked up against her.
I have noticed she likes to keep some eggs between her legs and body so it may be that. I'm not sure as like my hen I'm a first timer! Any thoughts from anyone else?

 

[mommissan]

How deep is the bedding? In hindsight I wonder if the wood chips were too shallow and she was dragging the eggs out with her when she got up. Just a thought.

 

[Olly]

I use hay in the brood box I put a fair but in there and leave her too sort it out herself. I do think most of these things are down to experience of the mother hen. Chickens aren't the most graceful of creatures and I think some of it is just clumsiness.

 

[bobcatdan]

What do you do when she breaks one and the yolk hets on the other fertile eggs. Do you wash them or let them be?

 

[enola]

This is a really old thread. When the broody breaks an egg, you can wipe it a little with a paper towel. But, don't do a whole lot of scrubbing.

 

[bobcatdan]

Thanks for the info.
This was the closet I could find on my issue. Would the yolk infect the egg if I cant get all the yolk off?