I was wondering if anyone else has had a broody hen try to carry her eggs? My BLRW was sitting on a dozen eggs and they kept getting broken. I thought maybe other hens were pushing her out to lay and eggs were getting broken. She got down to 6 and none hatched. They I bought 4 19 day old fertile eggs so she could hatch them and be the good mama I know she is. I could actually hear them peeping in the shells when I brought them home. Put them under her at night and all was well. Next morning same, but in the afternoon when I checked on her there was one crushed egg/chick in the nest, one egg on the floor of the coop and one egg clear out in the run. It was cracked and the chick was cheeping. I put it back in the nest and was sure it would be the only one hatching. But all three chicks made it. I was trying to figure out what happened when it dawned on me. When I had tried to check under her for eggs not her own, she would sometimes have eggs tucked up under her wings and they would drop if I didn't realize she had them there. That was how the one got clear out in the run. It was confirmed in my mind when I found her sitting in the center of the feeder with her wings spread the breadth of it to keep her babies safe. That crazy protective mama had been trying to take her eggs with her when she left the nest.
