Broody hen is an egg eater ?!?!

[turtleblossom]

I have a SL Whyandotte hen sitting on 12 eggs. I gave her that many because I am having fertility problems, and when I candle them in a few days, I'm sure that some will be duds. Today I went out to check on her, and found her face covered in yolk. Now the other eggs are covered in yolk too. She did not do this before she went broody. Was she just hungry? I have her in a pen that is 4' x 3', with a dog house for her to nest in. She has her own food and water, but I don't know if she is getting off the nest enough. She has only been sitting for about 4 days, and I didn't want her to give up if I fussed with her too much, otherwise I would just dump her out once a day.
Why is she eating her eggs?
Should I wash the yolk covered eggs? It's not just a little bit, they are caked in dried yolk.
Something else just ocured to me! Maybe she accidentally broke the egg by stepping on it, and then just figured, heck lets not let that go to waste.

Anyone have any thoughts?

 

[skeeter9]

Oh no! I hope she isn't eating the very eggs she's incubating! There's a good chance that she just accidentally broke an egg, like you mentioned. I'm not sure why she would get it on her face, but maybe she was upset and trying to roll it or something???? Broodies certainly do some weird things!

I'm curious to see if anyone else has had this happen. Let us know if it continues. Very interesting. . . .

 

[chicksgalore]

If she accidentally broke it, then I'd say she probably ate it--I can't imagine any of my girls letting that go. Another thought...I don't know how long the eggs have been in there but it could have rotted and exploded? I've heard of this happening and I have a broody who just had a broken egg in her nest the other day (they were about 2 weeks old) and it really stank so I'm wondering if that's what happened.

 

[ams3651]

2 things I experienced, after several days my broody pushed an egg out. I assume she thought it was a dud. Several days later one of the girls laid an egg on top of the broody box and it rolled down into the box (about 4 feet) and broke. I know this because I found the empty egg shell inside the pen, she ate it. Took me a little while to figure out thats what happened and it wasnt one of hers. I dont know what to suggest though, maybe check her food and water to see if she is getting up. I gave her treats to encourage her and I felt bad she was missing out on what the others had. Also you would know if she let that one stinky poop every day.