I have a standard size broody on a dozen bantam eggs. She is on Day 4 and is sitting tight. Today was the first day I had any evidence she has got off the nest by the first broody poop I've seen. Unfortunately I also found a broken (empty) egg near the poop and a fair way away from the nest. She has her own small coop inside the main run so i know no-one else can get in. I'm wondering if maybe the egg got caught up in her feathers (?) and then dropped out when she got downstairs. I'm presuming if it broke she then would have eaten it as an instinct. Is it feasible that is what happened? If not, any ideas on what might have happened. I'm pretty sure it was too far for her to push or roll away. Her nest is upstairs and the egg was donstairs. This is an older picture (previous hatch) but the same small coop).
I can't tell for sure, when I blow that photo up to see details it gets pretty fuzzy. A common problem is that the hens sometimes scratch to rearrange the nest. If the lip on the nest is too low they can scratch out bedding or eggs. Does that sound possible? Maybe rise the lip?
Yes she moved it. I've had Hens Carry eggs from one nest to the other. Both chickens and ducks. Possibly it wasn't good so she moved it out.