should i lift broody?

[kefiren]

i have a broody and tomorrow is lockdown. (saturday is due date)

she is separated (in a dog crate) from the general flock, so i have felt confident leaving her alone and not checking the eggs all the time. (no extra eggs or fighting over the nest)

however... i now smell a stink and saw some egg shells so i'm pretty sure one broke.

she has gotten really pecky.

who thinks i should lift her up today, clean out the nest for hatch...

or should i just let her be?

 

[Kevin565]

If you smell a stench I would defiantly check the eggs. You wouldn't want them to explode and damage the viable eggs.

 

[mstricer]

That's the only time I bother my broodies, bad smells and I candle and take out bad ones. Let us know what you find.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would just pick her up and get it done. She may have pecked an egg and broke it, and it will be a mess when the eggs start hatching. She will get upset, but she will settle back down pretty quick when things are clean.

 

[flockman]

I would definitely lift her to clean it up. You don't want to risk losing the rest.

 

[kefiren]

thanks so much kevin, mstricer, eggcessive, flockman!

i lifted her. she began with 14 eggs and only 11 remained! so... the slime and junk of 3 eggs were all in the nest... and covering all the eggs!

sigh!

at least she has a clean nest now, but the eggs are all yucky.

she sat quietly for a few minutes but then ran around the barn panicked.

we chased her round the barn until she realized she could run back into her nest and then she settled right back down.

hot day... hope i didn't dry the eggs too bad.