- Dec 11, 2013
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This morning when I went to check on my broody hen, I found some broken shell in her nest. I took it out, lifted her up, and found a dead chick under her. It still had a bit of the yolk that was not fully absorbed, so it still had a day or two to incubate. I thought the shell I had found was from the dead chick, but it turns out that another chick successfully hatched last night and that was its shell. The dead chick had a bit of dark shell still on it (the live chick was in a light shell), but I have not found the rest of the dark (dead chick) shell. It may still be under mama as I don't want to move her too much and disturb the four eggs she is still incubating, but what would pull a shell off of a chick that isn't ready to hatch yet, and leave the chick there? I'm wondering if it just got stepped on during the hatching process? That would be better than a snake.