Broody made a huge mess on her eggs - HELP!

[kindir]

I have a broody hen who has been on her eggs for about one and a half weeks now. yesterday I found her off the eggs after having basically pooped all over them! I took some of the messier ones out and just tossed them, I figured they are beyond hope, but left the rest of the in. Once I did the best I could with cleanup, she got back on them.

For the eggs with poop still on them - any chance they will hatch? should I wash them off? I have the hen in a large dog crate - there is room for her to get up, off the eggs, stretch out, get some food/water and then go back to the eggs (which is generally what she does) so I'm not sure what happened...

 

[mothersin2ition]

I had a broody do that last year (it was her first hatch, I think she didnt know how to do it right yet lol). And all the eggs hatched!
I didnt take any of them out, I just kinda wiped them off a bit.

 

[Southernbelle]

I've had that happen, too. I just kind've scrape off what I can, change the bedding in the nest to get rid of the poo and give the eggs back. They hatch fine.

Is her feed so close to her that she doesn't have to get up to poop? I always place the food dish somewhere where she has to get completely off the nest to eat because she usually poops while she's eating and I try to avoid her messing the nest.

 

[pgpoultry]

I go along with the previous 2 posts.

My broody used her eggs as a toilet and they were gross. I wiped the biggest bits off only. She went on to hatch most of them, some with very dirty eggs.

Sandie