Okay.......so I've learned the hard way that raising chickens is learn the hard way. One of my hens started to brood, she had a dozen or so eggs under her. Well....I came home Wed and she and a single chick were out of the nesting box down with the others. We have a coop like on stilts I guess it's called a tractor and it leads out to a large 10x10 yard. Well I immediately grab the chick because she was trying to protect it. I look in the nest box and only 5 eggs are left. Did the others eat the hatched chicks? I'm mortified if so. Okay....so I figure it's best to bring mama, the 5 eggs, and new chick to garage b/c we were expecting a lot of rain. I put them in a large 100gal waterer. She lays on eggs /cares for chick. Fast fwd to today.one egg has hatched??? Idk but no baby chick. I do find a large mass of "something" with like veins and idk...it was gross. Like it could have been "parts" ? It's the size of my my first thumb digit. Did she kill her baby? Also another egg was pecked open but it was oozing liquid so I opened it and it was the start of an embryo. Like I could see some blood veins and a teeny tiny spot where the chick was starting to form. Are these other eggs bad? She's still laying on them.I'm so confused. Please help.
those hens have a way to tell if an egg is good or not and they will cull the bad and non-viable ones from the nest. and yes they do peck and eat them what you saw was most likely the left overs from a chick that started to develop and aborted for what ever reason.
