Broody hen has broken eggs

[Chickens in paradise]

Hi everyone! I have a Spitzhauben hen broody for the first time. She had 5 eggs but 2 fell out of nest. One was too damaged but the other one only was slightly cracked so I put it under her again. This morning I found that egg outside the coop totally broken up. My question is does the hen know the egg is broken or not right and she got rid of it? I cannot understand how the egg got there!! Any ideas would be welcome as I am weirded out by this. Lol

 

[CluckNDoodle]

People don't always agree on this. Some feel when a broody kicks eggs out that she innately knows something we don't about the health or viability of the chicks BUT from my own personal experience I've had eggs roll out from under a broody for multiple reasons and so far none have been because the egg wasn't viable.
1) The hen had too many eggs and when she adjusted eggs would roll out from under her.
2) Other hens were trying to get into the nest box with the broody to lay their eggs under her and inadvertently kicked an egg out in the process.
3) The hen just wasn't a good broody. Some have weird quirks, I've even heard someone say that their broody kept kicking ALL of her eggs out of the box to sit in an empty box!

As far as your hen, it's unclear why the eggs got kicked out but once an egg is cracked the pressure from momma shifting around may have caused the egg to split more. If there is an egg that breaks under a hen, they often will try to clean it up or eat it...

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I hope that she hatches the other 3 successfully! Good luck!!

 

[Chickens in paradise]

I hope that she hatches the other 3 successfully! Good luck!!

Me too!! Thanks so much.

 

[aart]

Great post by @CluckNDoodle .
Putting a cracked egg back under broody....not a good idea.
Curious to see how this story progresses.