Broody hen eating her eggs? HELP!

[bougraisse]

Hi! So I have a hen that has gone broody for the first time. We put her in a separate cage with food and water, I think she was taking great care of her 5 eggs. Sometimes she would ask me to get out, go dust bath outside a bit and come back. We are at day 13. But today she broke two of them (and it looks as she really meant to, I think she ate the inside). One of the eggs I didn’t think was fertile anyway, was planning to take it from her, but the other one had blood in it and was definitely fertile and developing. The shells were dragged in the cage (out of the nest). The nest and the 3 other eggs are disgusting, there’s a mix of egg yolk, poop, blood. Should I clean them? Momma is really dirty too...
Or should I remove the eggs from the hen? I have an incubator I could put them in but I’d love to have a hen with chicks. Today the only thing different was that it was snowing and I couldn’t take her outside. Was she bored? Did she think it wasn’t the good time to hatch anymore (since it was suddenly cold outside)? Also I saw she ran out of water in the day but I don’t think it was for a long time. Will she kill more chicks or was it just one time?
HELP!

 

[Kellyjenny]

Hi! So I have a hen that has gone broody for the first time. We put her in a separate cage with food and water, I think she was taking great care of her 5 eggs. Sometimes she would ask me to get out, go dust bath outside a bit and come back. We are at day 13. But today she broke two of them (and it looks as she really meant to, I think she ate the inside). One of the eggs I didn’t think was fertile anyway, was planning to take it from her, but the other one had blood in it and was definitely fertile and developing. The shells were dragged in the cage (out of the nest). The nest and the 3 other eggs are disgusting, there’s a mix of egg yolk, poop, blood. Should I clean them? Momma is really dirty too...
Or should I remove the eggs from the hen? I have an incubator I could put them in but I’d love to have a hen with chicks. Today the only thing different was that it was snowing and I couldn’t take her outside. Was she bored? Did she think it wasn’t the good time to hatch anymore (since it was suddenly cold outside)? Also I saw she ran out of water in the day but I don’t think it was for a long time. Will she kill more chicks or was it just one time?
HELP!

@TOR

 

[TOR]

Hi,
I do not have most experience with broody hens. I would clean it up and put her back in with the good eggs. Check the eggs if you can. Clean her up also, underside if you can.
Are any other hens able to get in with her? Problem I am having now, not getting eggs broken but eggs coming out of the nest.
The hens get up everyday use the ladys room, dust. eat and go back rearrange and sit on the nest. COuld any of the eggs have possibly been thin where they were stepped on and broke? Does she have ample room in her nest?
I am not surprised she ate the insides of the egg and prolly the shell.
She does have enough food? I put some food in by them in case they want a snack.

I would clean it up and put her back on the eggs and try it, see if she sits. If still getting broken eggs or rejects them then I think I would start looking at plan b.

Hopefully someone else can chime in with more info.

 

[bougraisse]

Hi,
I do not have most experience with broody hens. I would clean it up and put her back in with the good eggs. Check the eggs if you can. Clean her up also, underside if you can.
Are any other hens able to get in with her? Problem I am having now, not getting eggs broken but eggs coming out of the nest.
The hens get up everyday use the ladys room, dust. eat and go back rearrange and sit on the nest. COuld any of the eggs have possibly been thin where they were stepped on and broke? Does she have ample room in her nest?
I am not surprised she ate the insides of the egg and prolly the shell.
She does have enough food? I put some food in by them in case they want a snack.

I would clean it up and put her back on the eggs and try it, see if she sits. If still getting broken eggs or rejects them then I think I would start looking at plan b.

Hopefully someone else can chime in with more info.

She is in a big section caged in so the other hens can’t get to her. She has plenty of water and food. We found most of the eggshells.
They eggs remaining? Clean them up? Just quickly with a bit of water?
it’s not impossible that they were thin.
Crossing my fingers.
I’ll keep you posted.
Thanks

 

[TOR]

Here is a article on cleaning eggs. I think I would take the best eggs and put them back. I do not know if I would spend much time cleaning. The egg is porous so you could push bacteria into the egg.

https://www.brinsea.com/Articles/Advice/EggCleaning.aspx

 

[TOR]

Post back please tell me how it goes and what you decide on the eggs.

 

[bougraisse]

Post back please tell me how it goes and what you decide on the eggs.

Sorry...
So, we washed them with a warm wet (no choice) cloth. We only took them when she got out to eat and wash herself so she didn’t see us take them. We cleaned out the nest, she cleaned herself a bit, and then we put them and her back in the nest....
crossing our fingers...
To be continued...
We’ll keep you posted
If another egg goes missing, we’ll take them out and put them in the incubator.

 

[bougraisse]

Post back please tell me how it goes and what you decide on the eggs.

So we are at day 23... the hen didn’t eat any other eggs, but nothing yet, she still asks once or twice to go outside for a few minutes and gets back on them.
How long do I wait before I consider them dead ?

 

[Jenessa_09]

So we are at day 23... the hen didn’t eat any other eggs, but nothing yet, she still asks once or twice to go outside for a few minutes and gets back on them.
How long do I wait before I consider them dead ?

I would wait one more day, candle the eggs to see if there is any movement. Did you ever candle the eggs? Maybe they were infertile.

 

[Jenessa_09]

Also how many days apart are the eggs??