disappearing eggs under broody hen?

[Lady of McCamley]

Before making assumptions of egg loss...did you check her wings?

Many broody hens like to tuck an egg up deep under a wing.

I have one broody hen that consistently hatches 110%....I set 8, she hatches 9. I set 6, she hatches 7. I've moved her from one nest to another, checked her wings, and YET, the sneaky little girl still steals an egg, tucks it deep into her wing.

So, yes you may have rodents stealing your eggs. It could have been crushed, and the hen, for sanitation, ate it to protect the nest.

Or you have a very sneaky mother.

LofMc

 

[jeannedeaux]

Wow, amazing what they will do! She was out for awhile this afternoon preening and fluffing and eating and dust bathing so I don't think there's an egg hidden. I'm a bit skeptical of the one I found on the floor of the coop--I'm wondering if it's white because it seems to be very dirty. I probably won't try to eat it in case it was under her for a week, but if it was I assume having been out of the nest at least all day if not night, it's too late to return it to her. Otherwise, I suppose she could have accidentally cracked one while moving them around as she constantly pushes all the straw and wood shavings away and ends up with the eggs on the plastic floor of the crate. She doesn't seem to appreciate that I paid for these fancy fertile eggs!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Wow, amazing what they will do! She was out for awhile this afternoon preening and fluffing and eating and dust bathing so I don't think there's an egg hidden. I'm a bit skeptical of the one I found on the floor of the coop--I'm wondering if it's white because it seems to be very dirty. I probably won't try to eat it in case it was under her for a week, but if it was I assume having been out of the nest at least all day if not night, it's too late to return it to her. Otherwise, I suppose she could have accidentally cracked one while moving them around as she constantly pushes all the straw and wood shavings away and ends up with the eggs on the plastic floor of the crate. She doesn't seem to appreciate that I paid for these fancy fertile eggs!

If you found a suspicious egg on the floor, it could be the lost one from the nest.

Since these are expensive purchased eggs...

Since it has only been a week...Candle the egg to see if development, and then put it back in the nest. It won't hatch the same time as the others, but sometimes I have been literally stunned that an arrested egg hatches, usually a day or two later than the rest of the brood. Hens naturally sit for about 2 days for all the chicks to hatch, so if it is about a day behind, it could still work.

You can candle again at about day 14 to see if it has grown any. If not, pitch then.

Good luck
LofMc

 

[jeannedeaux]

I washed the egg and it doesn't look at all like the others and had put it in the fridge before I saw this! Oops. Thanks for the advice! I'll keep that in mind about timing. Last time one of my hens hatched eggs she only waited for second chick on day two and then she was kicking the other eggs out as fast as she could so I borrowed an incubator. Wasn't wildly successful.

 

[ameliathedominant]

that orpington could have a calcium difficiency do u think?

 

[jeannedeaux]

It seems but I don't know how--she chows down the oyster shells and cooked egg shells, eats up the grubs with extra calcium, takes more than her share of layer feed. Could it be some sort of genetic imbalance that diet can't correct?

 

[ameliathedominant]

possibly, can that even happen tho?

 

[jeannedeaux]

I've read there are other possible causes but none seem to fit her. She doesn't have any illness symptoms, is one of the fluffiest and healthiest of the flock, and lightly dominates the rest with good mood. I'm at a loss to solve the problem. It's been going on all year and all I can do is go out early each morning hoping she's laid an egg that I can grab without breaking before someone else gets in the same nest and smashes it.

 

[jeannedeaux]

Meanwhile, I did candle that egg that was on the coop floor and it had nothing growing inside so that wasn't the mystery missing hatchling egg.