Mystery fertile egg in yard

[Lyndat]

Hi, I have a young broody chook who recently started laying (Szechuan) and recently obtained 7 fertile eggs for her to sit on.
I marked them all with a cross.
This morning I found one of the fertile eggs in the yard more than 50 metres away from the raised nest, about 18 inches of the ground).
The egg is undamaged.
Szechuan is currently sitting on the other 6 eggs.
I have no idea how the egg got out into the garden.
Any ideas?
Cheers
Lynda

 

[Dr.T]

If an egg goes bad I have had my hens kick it out of the nest. So maybe kicked out and then other birds got to playing with it and rolled it away?

 

[venymae]

Szechuan? Where did you find that breed? My google searches are coming up empty!

 

[lazy gardener]

Rat, crow? The egg was found 18" off the ground, or the nest was 18" above the ground?

 

[Lyndat]

Szechuan? Where did you find that breed? My google searches are coming up empty!

Szechuan is her name, she's a crossbreed...Cochin/Silkie and Lavender Araucana

 

[venymae]

Szechuan is her name, she's a crossbreed...Cochin/Silkie and Lavender Araucana

Ooooh! That makes so much more sense! Is it pronounced the same as the Sichuan province in China?

 

[Lyndat]

Rat, crow? The egg was found 18" off the ground, or the nest was 18" above the ground?

The nest is raised off the ground...I doubt if it was rolled as it would have to roll over a metal frame of the coop door and a row of bricks at the run gate, plus a lot of obstacles like fruit trees between the nest and where I found the egg.

 

[Lyndat]

Ooooh! That makes so much more sense! Is it pronounced the same as the Sichuan province in China?

Yes, I think it is pronounced the same, it's also a spicy chinese chicken dish

 

[Lyndat]

If an egg goes bad I have had my hens kick it out of the nest. So maybe kicked out and then other birds got to playing with it and rolled it away?

I've had a couple of eggs that are cracked/?pecked (3 other chooks).I really find it hard to imagine that the egg would survive being kicked out of the nest and rolled for 50+metres over a metal door frame and a row of bricks...mystery

 

[venymae]

Yes, I think it is pronounced the same, it's also a spicy chinese chicken dish

Nice! We lived in the capital of the Sichuan provence, Chengdu. The whole area is famous for the spicy food. I miss it a lot.