Well we had an incident yesterday where another hen stepped on one of Rosas eggs and cracked it. It wasn't bad at first, the membrane did not seem to be broken. I candled it and there was still movement. I put it back under her and was hoping for the best. Then about 2 hours later I was down there to collect eggs and two other hens had pushed her off the nest and they were pecking at that egg...it was cracked more and bleeding. My Rosa was just pacing back and forth but didn't try to intervene. It breaks my heart that she is so low in the pecking order that she didn't try to save her egg.
So I promptly moved her other 4 viable eggs under the other broody (so glad I marked them all) and left four freshly laid eggs in Rosas box. I threw the other girls out of the coop and tried to get Rosa to go back on her nest. She would have nothing of it. She was just pacing back and forth the length of the coop. I left them be alone. About an hour later I went back down and she was back on those eggs, just like they were hers.
Sadly they egg that was cracked open had too much damage and the little chick inside had expired. So sad, I was terribly heart broken yesterday and feeling like an awful chicken momma.
So after much debate, thought and consideration we decided once again to try to move her to a crate in the coop under the cover of darkness. So late last night we moved her 4 "fresh" eggs into the crate and then set her down near there with a light shining on the eggs. She went right to them and sat down. Then she looked around a bit and realized that she was not in a box and freaked out...she got up, was clawing at the crate, even flew into it a few times. It was tearing my heart up, but we turned off the flashlight and just sat real still. She just kept pacing. We decided to leave her and come back again in an hour or so to see how she was. I had visions of her all bloodied and tore up from trying to get out. It was an awful long hour.
When we went back to check on here, she as calm and on those eggs. When I opened the crate she made no attempt to move, so we moved her 4 viable eggs out from under the other broody and back under Rosa. She quickly nuzzled them right to where she wanted them and flattened herself down on them. Oh...what a huge sigh...and thank god for red lighted flashlights. Not a peep or ruckus from the other hens.
So then this morning after not sleeping much, I was hesitant to go check her. I was afraid that as light shown in the windows that she would once again realize that she was not in a nesting box, but in a cage and freak out. I finally drug myself down there and to my surprise, she had built herself a little nest and was all comfy in the corner with her eggs. I slipped some food and water in there for her and she didn't even move, much less make an attempt to get off the eggs. So tonight is Day 20. I am hoping all the ruckus yesterday didn't do any damage. I have to leave today and go to town, but I can at least know that the other hens can't bother her and that if there start to be any pipping she will be just fine.
Please keep your fingers crossed for her (and me)!
