missing eggs from under hen

[mjclark1]

Hi,
I have her in a single enclosed private pen. Tomorrow, Sunday 5th is hatching day (should be). Yesterday when I checked under her she had 6 eggs.Today I rechecked and there were 5. I saw some shells in her pen.
She has food and water--all she wants.

What would slither/sneak in there to eat the eggs? Would a mouse? There were no signs of snake slithering marks in the dirt.

Any suggetions?
Wouldn't she fight it out of there?

Frustrated,

Monica

 

[ThePamperedPullet]

Many times, the hen herself will eat the egg. It could be that it was not developing. She could have stepped on it as she was moving around and the yolk seeped out. A hen will also eat her eggs and unborn chicks if she feels threatened. This is a self defense stratagy that they use. They protect the nest by eating the eggs.
She could have kicked the egg out of the nest for many different reasons and then a small predator could have come by and eaten it. There are many different things that could have happened.

 

[mjclark1]

Should I place her in a cage like a rabbit type cage to keep predators from sneaking in?
Monica

 

[ThePamperedPullet]

She should be fine where she is at. They will fiercely guard their nest as the chicks hatch. After the chicks hatch then you could always move her if you feel there is a credible threat to her or her chicks.

 

[RedfogsFlock]

We had a pack rat that carried off our babies one by one as they hatched.

So I would just keep a close watch on her, & if need be move her after the babies hatch!

I think had I left mine on the ground they would've been better off. I had them in a raised enclosure and that just helped I think. My hens would toss eggs out as they went bad, but if I didn't remove the eggs she would eat them too.

 

[mjclark1]

I found one egg that was way far away from where she was sitting. I wondered how that got over there.
So, a hen would remove a bad egg? I didn't know that. Maybe that one egg was bad. I threw it away anyways.

One hatched successfully; I'm still waiting for the other 3. She started off with 9. I have no idea where the others went. and I don't see any reminents of shells other than the recent hatch.

Thanks for the info.
Monica