Sneaky Pekin

[harmonymw]

One of my Pekin hens has been hiding eggs from me. I noticed she was acting broody, which I thought was uncommon for Pekins. She didn’t come for breakfast one day and when I went in to collect eggs she hissed at me from her nest. Super out of character for her. She eventually came out as I did assorted chores and I went in to collect eggs. There were none in her nest. I collected the chicken eggs as usual from the boxes. This same thing happened several days in a row until I decided to investigate her nest more closely. She has been hiding eggs from me under a layer of shavings before she leaves the nest. There are about 8 in there and I really don’t know how long they’ve been incubating.

What are my options here?

 

[harmonymw]

I really don’t know exactly how many days the nest was “empty” because I’m tired and have a bunch of human children and my brain sucks.

 

[harmonymw]

Oh and I do have a drake, obviously, or this wouldn’t be an issue.

 

[BullChick]

This is typical pre-broody behavior. I too have a Pekin that’s gone broody a few times. I ditched her nest of 15 about two weeks ago. She is still kind of acting questionable, but I am not going near her when she’s on the nest. I just wait for her to leave, but make it known I’m waiting nearby.

What I’m getting at is that the eggs aren’t really incubating yet.

 

[harmonymw]

Okay, cool. I just kind of wanted to gauge whether or not the eggs are alive. I feel bad chucking them if they are but I know very little about egg development other than that a Pekin takes about a month to hatch.

 

[BullChick]

An idea since it’s a chicken egg.

Candling a duck egg

 

[harmonymw]

I very much do not want to deal with ducklings and I’ve heard Pekins aren’t great mothers. I have a you hatch it you deal with it rule here.

 

[harmonymw]

Ooh very helpful thank you!

 

[BullChick]

Mine have been awesome.

 

[FluffTheDuck]

My duck was broody once. I let her get up to fifteen eggs until I realized she never got back into the nest. Now my female is turning herself into a boy. She's quite questionable.