Egg eating broody

[ascott1944]

I've had an Orpington hen going broody for the past six months and having no rooster anymore, bought a dozen fertilised eggs to put under her. All seemed welll until recently when she's been sitting beside the clutch, not on it. Also we noticed fewer eggs than before. Today when I replaced her on the eggs (which should have hatched by now, 22 days having passed, I observed her peck a shell open. The smell was indescribable.
Have any of you had a similar experience and should I keep her on the ggs or will she eventually kill the lot?

Ascott44

 

[drumstick diva]

Have you been making her leave her nest a few times a day to have water, eat & poo? Maybe she is really hungry. Maybe all the eggs were not fertile and she could tell they were bad. Have you been candling her eggs at all?. Did they ever show signs of being viable?

If the egg was already rotten, she didn't kill anything. And if she has been broody for 6 mos. you need to take steps to break her of it. Please put "Broody breaking" in the search box and get her back to being a regular hen. She may have gotten off the eggs because they aren't hatching.

 

[Teila]

G’Day from down under ascott1944

Welcome!

As Diva has hinted, we would need a lot more information before really being able to assist.

When you say going broody for the past six months do you mean going broody on and off or has she been broody for 6 months straight? I agree that 6 months is a long time to be broody and if none of the eggs are viable, I recommend breaking her from her broodiness and giving her a chance to regain some condition she would most likely have lost over time.

 

[redsoxs]

Greetings from Kansas, ascott, and

! Pleased you joined our community! Great advice from D'Diva. Hope you get the situation worked out!

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome to BYC - thanks for joining us.

 

[N F C]

 

[ascott1944]

Thank you for your prompt replies:
I should have been more specific. During the last six months we have had several episodes during which this hen has gone broody. Each time I have, I believed, broken her, only to find her brooding over a hoard of unfertile eggs again, a few weeks later.
It was because of the most recent time I decided to purchase some fertilised eggs for her in the hope she would see the cycle through this time and rear some chicks to satisfy her maternal urges. I don't have any great hopes for this clutch as besides it now being halved - what happened to the shells? , she can sometimes be found squatting beside the eggs and consequently they are cold to the touch. It is this on-off behaviour which I cannot understand. I suppose I have to scrap the eggs and do my best to break her one more time. She's a beautiful bird and I really don't want to neck her.

Any advice gratefully received.

Ascott

 

[TheKindaFarmGal]

Welcome to BYC! Leave her on the nest for at a least a day or two longer. If it is day 22 the chances are slim the eggs will hatch. Candle them before you give up to see if anything is alive. Great to have you with us!