Newly hatched chick and egg disappeared!

[katyposty]

I am baffled, today is day 21 and my first of three eggs was piping when I saw it four hours ago. Just checked again and the chick is GONE and so is another of the eggs. I had just separated mom and eggs from the flock with chicken wire this morning when I heard the cheeping and saw the egg was cracked. Now there is one egg left under the hen, and one empty shell which looks like the chick hatched out itself (this the shell from the one that was piping). The other egg is missing entirely. The leftover shell is crushed but looks like the chick zipped itself out. There was a little gooey mass still on the inside. Can anyone tell me what happened? Is it possible that the chick is up under the hens wings? I had her walk off the nest and didn't see anything. She is not dirty like she was partita massacre....
Please give me some advice, this was to be our first chick!

 

[ozark_chickies]

Sorry for your loss. Is it possible a snake got them? Was mom acting scared, mad or spooked?

 

[katyposty]

I think a snake is definitely possible. Also maybe the mother hen ate them?

 

[ozark_chickies]

I hope mom did not eat them! Based on the total disapearance of the second egg, and no bloody mess, I think a snake is more likely.

 

[Gypsy07]

The chick might be hidden up under her wings, so it would be worth having a good look. She might also have eaten the chick and the other egg. When one of my hens lays a fragile egg and it breaks, the others always eat it right up, shell and all. Also if a predator kills one of my hens and doesn't remove the corpse, the other hens always rush in to peck at the body and eat bits of it. Given half a chance, most hens are awful cannibals.

Most likely answer is probably something like a snake, but the others are always possible...