Eggs Being taken?

[Necklace]

Hello. I am just throwing this out there to see if anyone has any idea what this might be.

one of my Hens has been broody for months now She can not get any babies to hatch so I starting watching the eggs closer. we were taking her eggs lighting them up to see if there was a chick marking them and putting them back. About 4 days ago I marked 6 of her eggs they all had chicks in them and they were all about 2 weeks developed it looked to me.. I was looking at the marked eggs each night and counting them and the number kept going down. Last night there were only 3 marked and she had a few unmarked that another hen probably deposited. I went this morning to let them out and all 3 that were marked are gone and all the unmarked are still there??

I can not find any holes around the coop I am about to turn the inside of the coop upside down thinking that something might be handing out in the hay or something because they are taken from a closed coop at night with no shells left behind?

Snake kinda comes to mind but I am not sure and would it know which eggs have chicks?

 

[MyCuteCoop]

That’s odd, I’m not sure.

 

[Kessel23]

You should separate the broody from the main flock, she has likely picked a very popular nesting box to use for her brooding but the other hens still want to lay in that nest to. When the other hens try to lay in it she tries to push them out, during the struggle it is not uncommon for her to break an egg or two. If she breaks an egg then she will eat it to get it out of the nest, if another hen sees her eating an egg then they will try to steal it from her and before you know it the whole flock is in her nest and then more eggs get broken. Also, if I were you I would remove all of her eggs, put her in a large dog crate or sectioned off part of the coop, gather up some new eggs, I usually set 12 under a large hen, then move her to the dog crate with the new eggs. Broody chicken hens are usually pretty willing to move their nest site. Make sure she has food and water in the crate and enough room to get off and poop, if you don't have a crate that big then just take her off the nest once a day and let her run around for 10 minutes while she gets a drink, gets some food, stretches her wings, goes to the bathroom, and maybe even take a dust bath. If you have a naughty cockerel in the flock he might be breaking eggs too, I had one that would mate with the hens while they were setting eggs and it would break those eggs so fast.

If you don't want to move her to an area where the rest of the flock can't get then there is another option, take her eggs out and get some new ones, as I said before I like to set 12 under a large hen, mark the new eggs with a permanent marker or something else that can stay on them for 21 days. Put the new eggs under her and then put lots of eggs in the nest boxes beside her, the other hens like to use the nest box with the most eggs and will be attracted to the other nest boxes if they have more eggs. Make sure you do not leave the same eggs in there day after day though, you don't want to lose track of how old they are. If you have a mixed flock of brown and white, or other colored, layers then one day you can leave all browns in and the next day you can leave all whites in. Also, make sure to check the broody hens clutch often and remove any eggs that are not marked, I like to do this every day if possible, you don't want them to start developing at different rates.
Edit: you can use ceramic or fake eggs for this too. Also, if you don't have fake eggs or a mixed layer flock then you can mark the eggs so you know which ones to take out the next day.

 

[cmom]

Do you have a game camera you can put up. That is how I find out what's going on

 

[cmom]

That’s odd, I’m not sure.

 

[Necklace]

Do you have a game camera you can put up. That is how I find out what's going on

I was thinking about looking for something to film during the night.. need to find something with nightvision filming.

 

[cmom]

A game camera. I have several up in different spots. They work in complete darkness.

 

[cmom]

I bought one of these to replace a camera that died. It takes good pictures or video. I use the video.
https://www.amazon.com/VERSION】APEM...r=8-4-spons&keywords=game+trail+cameras&psc=1

 

[aart]

Snake kinda comes to mind but I am not sure and would it know which eggs have chicks?

Snake or rodent.
Wouldn't surprise me if they could smell the difference.
Putting your broody in a 1/2" hardware cloth pen, 3x4', would do the trick.

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