I know that there is at least one sour egg under my broody the smell is over whelming!! she is due on the 5th of Aug I want to get the bad egg out but what a fit she gives me when i try to candle them to find it!! Should I leave it till the hatching? Will it be harmful to the chicks? and she is in the tiniest nest box 4ft up!! what if the chicks start to hatch and some take a long time will the others fall on the floor and get hurt? I tried to move her but she won't have it! Thanks for your time. hard tending to a mule chicken!
Bite the bullet, and get your hand in there and remove the stinky egg! If it smells now, it will only get worse Broodies do get attitude, but they get over it and she knows you bring food and water. Our nests are high too. If I can't move a broody, I let her set there and after they begin to hatch, I put a screen up to contain the little ones for a day or so to make sure they all hatch. Once they are all hatched and active- within about 24-48 hours, I move mom and kids to ground floor and let her deal with things from there. Make sure there is chick food and chick waterers available for the lil ones. Mom will teach them.
You don't need to candle the eggs to find the stinker. Put on a glove if you need to, reach underneath and remove the eggs one by one. Sniff them. A stinky egg is easy to smell through the shell. I had two of them in my last hatch. GAG! Got rid of them right away. And be careful with them. You don't want a rotten egg to burst on you!
I say take it, because it may burst and then it's all over the hen, the nest and other eggs and may draw critters to investigate that nasty smell. uggg...I can almost smell it
