Hen sitting on bad eggs

[Kuma1]

Have a hen that was sitting on her eggs for a long time. She would go eat, poop . Couple eggs pecked on, couple unborn chicks pecked still in shell. I changed the paper towels and lining when the hen was out.
Couple chicks hatched and are doing okay. She is down to 6 eggs. I had figured that the chicks would hatch soon after. Nope. With the hen and chicks outside, couple eggs exploded while I was replacing the paper towels. Fortunately, it wasn't on me.
I felt bad for the hen with her sitting on bad eggs. There was a hen that laid eggs recently and didn't come back so I got some of the eggs to put in the box. When the hen with the 2 chicks came back, she looked at the eggs and sat down. I guess she accepted it as her own. I checked the other nest this morning and it had more eggs. That hen came back and is sitting on them.

So I was wondering if a hen would know if the eggs were okay or not? It seemed like she didn't and kept them warm hoping that they would hatch.

 

[nuthatched]

Remove any unmatched eggs and let her raise her chicks ,she's not going to sit much mire than a day more with the babies hatched and you don't want her too.

 

[Kuma1]

Okay.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

In the future, when you see that a hen is starting to be broody, take all eggs away from her. If she stays in the nest 3 nights then give her some fresh eggs, but mark then first with a Sharpie. You want them all to hatch at the same time. Then every day when she gets off the nest, take away any eggs that are not marked. You only want her to have the marked eggs. Candle them at one week and two weeks. Any that don't look right or look different from the others, throw away.

 

[Kuma1]

Thank you I'll do that next time.

So what I did was this - Had other new eggs and put them in a box. -nice cushion and paper towels. I put it next to her and she looked at the eggs and then she got up and went over to sit on them. The ones in the other box I threw out. The hen and the chicks go out and about during the day. I also have a small container of water, scratch, and starter food in anothe small container next to the box so that they can eat or drink when ever they feel like it. I check up on it and refresh.

Have a couple more hens that made a nest behind the carport under a long table. One has 8 eggs. Other had 6 but checked this morning and only had one.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

One has 8 eggs. Other had 6 but checked this morning and only had one.

Hmm. Snake? Opossum maybe? Rats, crows, squirrels?

 

[Kuma1]

No snakes in Hawaii. No opossum or squirrels either. It could be a big rat or Mongoose. I have seen a chicken peck an egg and carry it off to eat the yolk. Nest was on the ground. I think that hen was trying to crowd out a hen that had already laid some eggs high up in the carport. The other hen has a box on top of a big storage tub under the table. I'll see if I can take some pics.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Oh, mongoose, sure. They love eggs don't they.

 

[Kuma1]

I came home today to find all of the eggs out of the box and on the floor of the carport. 1 egg was just yo
lk. Others were damaged - cracked,split. No way of putting them back in the box. I think it was the other chickens??? If they are hungry enough would they eat or carry the eggs away? I can't picture that. I cleaned the box and put new bedding and paper towels. The hen came back with her two chicks. I showed her the eggs one at a time and she pecked all of them. I threw away the eggs. The hen went into the box and sat down. The chick s followed. I had new food and water for them.

Other pics of hens with their places for nesting.One behind the carport under a table. The other one way up top. Once the chicks hatch, I'll put the box down

 

[BigBlueHen53]

The hen came back with her two chicks.

Once the hen has live chicks to care for, she's pretty much done brooding eggs. My guess is that she threw the eggs out of the nest.