Hen rejecting eggs

[jak2002003]

Hi. My broody hen was sitting on 6 eggs. Every few days she will roll one egg away from her and let it go cold.

Its near the end of the incubation period now and she only had 2 left. Today she had rolled away one egg and it was cold!

Now she has only one. Why is she doing this? None of my other hens have ever done this. She is not getting disturbed by other hens or predators.

Its so frustrating. I saw her doing it one day after she came back to the nest form eating. She settled down, tucking all the eggs under her - then slowly rolling one out from under her and pushing it as far away from her body as she could without getting up.

I was so looking forward to the chicks. Shame none of my other hens are broody at the moment.

 

[Kaeta44]

Hens will do this if the egg isn't viable. Maybe none of them were fertile or else there was something wrong with the chick growing inside.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Hens will do this if the egg isn't viable. Maybe none of them were fertile or else there was something wrong with the chick growing inside.

Yup, my broody rejected an egg that wasn't developing. Did you candle the egg she kicked out?

 

[jak2002003]

Wow. That is very interesting. I never knew hens would do that. How do they know if the egg is no good?

I have been having problems with my eggs being fertile. But the other hens would sit forever and then give up. When I opened up the eggs they were almost hollow and dried up. It was the problem with my roosters having 'fluffy bottoms' They are Japanese bantams. So I gave them all a hair cut!

Perhaps I was wrong thinking this hen was stupid. Maybe she is the cleverest one by rejecting the eggs, while the others just sat on them for weeks!

 

[jak2002003]

I opened up a rejected egg and there was a chick in there! Yuck! I think she is just crazy after all!

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Maybe there was something wrong with the chick, or it was a quitter and died. I've had hens that have made terrible broodies. Some just aren't meant to be mothers. If this is her first time sitting, she might just be a little confused about what to do. If she were mine though,, she'd never be allowed to brood another clutch of eggs. Hope your last egg hatches!!!!

 

[jak2002003]

I only have about 4 days to go for the last egg to hatch. Today she was attempting to push it away when she went back to the next and was settling down. I pushed it back under her (it was still warm) and she settled again.

I know she always does it when she returns to the nest from her morning feed. So I will have to watch her closely for the next few days! It it her first time, but my other hens never did this on their first time. I will not let her try to hatch any more eggs again.