Hatched Egg, No Chick

BPM83

In the Brooder
Oct 18, 2016
16
0
27
Peculiar, MO
I have two hens currently sitting on eggs, a Cochin and a Jersey Giant. Yesterday one of the eggs under my cochin hatched and I found the baby outside her nesting box, still wet. It had been pecked at and had a bloated tummy. It almost looked like it had been pulled from the egg too soon. It was alive when I found it but died 12 hours later. I checked the other eggs this morning and none were beginning to hatch. This afternoon I checked again and one of the eggs under my Jersey Giant had hatched but there was no chick and no trace of one anywhere. I can not figure out what is going on. The only other birds in that coop today were another Cochin hen, a tiny Silkie hen and my Ayam Cemani rooster (my nicest roo). None of them are aggressive and the Jersey hen is twice the size of even the rooster. I don't think they would date mess with her baby. The small front door to the coop was open but it is raised 3 feet off the ground, so I know a snake did not get in. Plus I've never even seen one on my property. I've never seen a rat either and I have two barn cats that are excellent mousers and roam around the coops all day. I also know it was not one of the cats. They have never so much as hissed at one of the chickens. When it is cold they will even sleep on the brooder box under the heat lamp and pay no attention to the chicks below. The only daytime predator I've ever had are hawks. I had a fox try to get a turkey just one time, one possum attack that ended with my husband shooting the little bastard and one owl attack on a couple guineas. I have two 100lb American Bulldogs and a big turkey tom that keep most predators away. Nothing has ever gotten in that coop. So what in the world is happening??
**(Side note - normally I put the mom and her eggs in a seperate cage just before they hatch but the hens kept swapping eggs and my dates rubbed off the eggs.)
 
You're sure it's not under her and you didn't just pick it up when you lifted the hen up? I've done that quite a few times, lol.

It's possible they ate it. Gross, but it does happen.

Are the hens first time moms?
 
I second the suggestion to check under her again. I did that the first morning after a hatch. I thought one was missing but it was just tucked up inside her wing.
 
y'all are braver than me, I separate the broody and eggs to their own area and wait to see tiny heads pop out from under mom after 21 days. I don't dare try to pick up my broody. LOL
 
y'all are braver than me, I separate the broody and eggs to their own area and wait to see tiny heads pop out from under mom after 21 days. I don't dare try to pick up my broody. LOL

I see your point! My broody is one of my "friendly" buff Orpingtons (hugely sociable and sweet when she's not broody, less so in broody/mama mode).
 
I've done that before as well. But no I checked multiple times. I only have one hen that gets mean and pecks when she is broody, my tiniest silkie, lol. The rest hiss and fuss a bit but they let me move them around and check the eggs. They aren't first time Moms either. That's why it's so weird! Ugh it is so gross if they ate it!
You're sure it's not under her and you didn't just pick it up when you lifted the hen up? I've done that quite a few times, lol.

It's possible they ate it. Gross, but it does happen.

Are the hens first time moms?
 
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I've done that before as well. But no I checked multiple times. I only have one hen that gets mean and pecks when she is broody, my tiniest silkie, lol. The rest hiss and fuss a bit but they let me move them around and check the eggs. They aren't first time Moms either. That's why it's so weird! Ugh it is so gross if they ate it!

Yeah, that is really weird then. Other than them eating it I don't know what it could be...
 
Circumstantial evidence: first chick was out of the nest and had been pecked, possibly looked like it had been removed from shell too soon. Second chick missing. What did the second shell look like, if it was still there? Did it have a clean zip line, and had all of the blood been absorbed from the membrane? Or did the shell look like it had been fractured and picked from outside, possibly after pip or initiating zip.

Chickens have been bred to the point that their broody nature is often messed up. I had one hen who was in love with the idea of setting, but when those chicks started pipping, she freaked out and abandoned the nest. I've also had hens who were chick aggressive.
 
I'm with LG on this. You need to do some further investigating, starting with her points. Temporarily remove the broody and chicks from the nest in question and dig down through the nesting material. You very well may find a squashed, dead chick at the bottom of the nest.

I've had this happen where my broody knew a chick coming out of the egg wasn't viable or died and she scratched the egg and dead chick deep into the nest where I later discovered it.

When a live chick gets evicted from the nest, very often the chick has severe abnormalities and wouldn't survive even with the best of care. We know this from the many accounts here on BYC of abandoned chicks.

As for a broody consuming a dead chick, it's known that broodies may do this to preserve the integrity of the nest, reducing the chance predators will be drawn to her nest and surviving chicks.

This week my broody had new chicks hatch. At the beginning of her incubation, an egg broke. She ate it. This is normal for the reasons I just mentioned. What complicated this particular act was the egg was infected with bacteria for some reason, (the remains had a putrid odor) and my broody became sick from it, causing awful diarrhea. Yeah, very inconvenient. A round of penicillin cured her by the time the eggs finally hatched. It was an experience, let me tell you.
 

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