We had somewhat of a massacre in the hen house! When I found that broken egg under the Brahma, I thought she had accidentally stepped on it. It happens, and we have had it happen several times. Well, we had been finding them over the past few days, but then, we discovered that it was not being done by accident, but someone had decided to start eating eggs! Someone was going in and forcing hens out of nest boxes, including broody hens, just to get to the eggs! My #1 suspect is the Black Australorp momma, who was teaching her babies to eat eggs!!!! Not only that, but Buffy was forced out and every one of her eggs eaten, the other Bkack Australorp has only 7 left, and one of the maternity screens was not secured, and the Brahma on one nest was forced out (the one whose eggs I took, but then gave 10 eggs from the incubator!). Now Buffy and that one Brahma have been broken of their broodiness (although Buffy does keep going back in so I wonder if she might decide to start again) and we only got 8 eggs yesterday. I am not a happy camper right now! So this morning, I have taken those 8 eggs from yesterday, blew out the yolks, and put a syringe full of mustard in each one, and I will be taking them outside and putting them in the nest boxes. I tried to keep the holes tiny, but I had to enlarge them to het the end of the syringe in. I will be doing this every day, and will very likely also get some golf balls to put in the nest boxes as well. I hope this works!
On a happier note, there is cheeping under the other Buff Orpington! Her maternity screen was nice and secure, so they should all be good. The other Brahma I could not tell if there was cheeping under her or not. Out of the ten eggs I gave to the first Brahma, I saved 6 from being smashed and eaten, and returned them to the incubator. One has hatched, along with one other so far, and another is pipped. I sure hope the rest made it!
As for the egg eaters... I do not want to cull a good broody, but if she keeps it up, she will be dinner for sure! :-(
