We had two hens co-mothering on a nest; taking turns setting and keeping each other company, or so we thought. Raven started setting on hers first. Hers SHOULD have hatched around the 27th, but we're not certain of the date. They haven't. FriendHen started setting maybe a week or ten days later. Today I went to the barn and FriendHen was eating all the eggs she could reach. When I tried to make her stop, she pecked me...hard. Then she kept on eating eggs. Raven is still sitting on some. I don't remember FriendHen being an egg eater before, but she dissapeared for a couple months this summer, then re-appeared, so we guessed she may've been setting somewhere else; she may've eaten those eggs, too. Would she eat the eggs if she thought they were duds? Or did she desert the nest due to the heat? Our dog came in the barn with me and the chickens who stay near the barn are not used to her. Could that have stressed her out enough to eat the eggs? We've had a couple very hot days lately, but they have their own fan, as well as some breeze from another fan in the barn, so I don't think heat should've bothered her enough to make her leave the nest, but who knows? Anyone have ideas?
