One Broody Bantam hen, can't find the other's eggs

[filibuster93]

So we have several normal sized hens, and are laying and acting fine. One of our bantam's (Irene) somehow managed to lay 13 eggs before we found her spot. And we only found it because she had gone broody, and I thought she was laying for the first time. We took most of the eggs, but she seemed very distraught so we let her keep two, and moved the cardboard box she had laid in, inside her coop for safety. The Bantams are in a different coop than the other hens. She has been laying on her eggs, and I have made sure she has food and water close by. She comes out in morning and afternoon to eat bugs, and dust bathe, so for now I am not worry about her health. It is more of an experiment as I am not sure that the eggs are even fertilized. But since her eggs are so small, we are not concerned about the loss of her laying. The problem/question arises that the other bantam hen Joan has laid one egg we have found. Of regular size. Since the first egg, we have yet to find another. I am not sure if she is laying and I cannot find, or if because she lives with the broody hen, she has stopped laying as well?


first egg is Irene's, the brooding one, the second is the only one found from the other bantam hen, and the third is an average egg from our Rhode Island Reds

 

[nayeli]

Is Irene stealing her eggs

I've heard several cases of broody's stealing extra eggs, especially since you stole hers from her

 

[filibuster93]

No, she still has the 2 I left her with. The other hen, Joan, laid the one egg in another place. Our chickens roam the backyard and while they have very nice nesting boxes, they lay their eggs in random places. Joan actually laid the one egg in the nesting box area, and made all the other regular hens mad, and they started laying their eggs elsewhere for a couple weeks.