FunClucks
Crowing
Someone ate two of the eggs my broody was sitting on. The others are caked with dirt and egg yolk. Can they still hatch? She's been sitting on eggs for 3 days now. Can/should I add more eggs? I want at least 1-2 chicks.
So my broody hen, Sassy, is a starlight green egger. She's exactly one year old, and went broody twice last year. I broke her both times. This year, she's broody at a decent time of year, and very determined about it, so I figured I'd let her set eggs. She'd been at it for a week when I replaced the fake eggs with real ones this past Friday morning. She's brooding in a 5 gallon bucket on the floor of our covered coop/run. We've been checking her daily to remove any unmarked eggs from under her. She doesn't mind it much, doesn't peck us, and hasn't broken her brood.
I collected eggs and washed them to sell on Sunday afternoon, so I didn't have any unwashed eggs left. Sunday late afternoon we discovered two of the 5 eggs under Sassy had been broken and eaten. I think this was an accident because we don't have any egg eaters so far (we get 12-13 eggs from 15 hens daily). There were hardly any shavings under Sassy, so I moved her out of the nest box, put more shavings under her, and replaced the three unbroken eggs. She went right back. However, the unbroken eggs are NASTY. They are covered in dirt, wood chip bits, and dried egg yolk/white. I'm afraid to wash them because I don't want to remove any remaining protective coating, but I worry they won't hatch due to contamination.
I took chicken wire and fenced off Sassy's nesting area inside the coop/run so the other chickens can't disturb her any more. She's in there with food and water and can walk about a bit.
I put another egg under her Monday morning, hoping she would have at least one clean egg that might hatch, but that's a staggered hatch. I really don't want to stretch it out further (adding an egg tonight), but I was hoping to get at least 2 chicks. I did an incubation in January and all 24 set eggs were fertile, so I figure that's probably still the case. I guess I could get the incubator ready if she leaves the nest early if the dirty eggs happen to hatch and she abandons the clean one.
Do you think the dirty eggs will hatch ok?
I only have a few more weeks of fertility left, as we had to process our rooster a week ago.
Anything else I can do to help her have a successful hatch? What would you do in this situation?
So my broody hen, Sassy, is a starlight green egger. She's exactly one year old, and went broody twice last year. I broke her both times. This year, she's broody at a decent time of year, and very determined about it, so I figured I'd let her set eggs. She'd been at it for a week when I replaced the fake eggs with real ones this past Friday morning. She's brooding in a 5 gallon bucket on the floor of our covered coop/run. We've been checking her daily to remove any unmarked eggs from under her. She doesn't mind it much, doesn't peck us, and hasn't broken her brood.
I collected eggs and washed them to sell on Sunday afternoon, so I didn't have any unwashed eggs left. Sunday late afternoon we discovered two of the 5 eggs under Sassy had been broken and eaten. I think this was an accident because we don't have any egg eaters so far (we get 12-13 eggs from 15 hens daily). There were hardly any shavings under Sassy, so I moved her out of the nest box, put more shavings under her, and replaced the three unbroken eggs. She went right back. However, the unbroken eggs are NASTY. They are covered in dirt, wood chip bits, and dried egg yolk/white. I'm afraid to wash them because I don't want to remove any remaining protective coating, but I worry they won't hatch due to contamination.
I took chicken wire and fenced off Sassy's nesting area inside the coop/run so the other chickens can't disturb her any more. She's in there with food and water and can walk about a bit.
I put another egg under her Monday morning, hoping she would have at least one clean egg that might hatch, but that's a staggered hatch. I really don't want to stretch it out further (adding an egg tonight), but I was hoping to get at least 2 chicks. I did an incubation in January and all 24 set eggs were fertile, so I figure that's probably still the case. I guess I could get the incubator ready if she leaves the nest early if the dirty eggs happen to hatch and she abandons the clean one.
Do you think the dirty eggs will hatch ok?
I only have a few more weeks of fertility left, as we had to process our rooster a week ago.
Anything else I can do to help her have a successful hatch? What would you do in this situation?
Last edited:
