Strange behavior - please help

[kim764]

Help, I'm so confused. My hen who has been sitting, is in her third week. I assume we will have chicks any day now. I check on her every day and make sure she has food, etc. The last two days, I am noticing eggs that are obviously pushed out from underneath her. (At one time I noticed she was sitting on about 10-12 eggs) Three days ago a bunch were pushed out, yesterday just a few now today a bunch again. Some pushed completely out of her laying area. Does she sense the ones that will not hatch and she is purging them? This is the goofiest thing I have ever seen.


I live in the high desert of CA. The weather goes from the mid 70's one day down to the low 50's the next. Nights are the same, in the 40's. Besides the one hen that is nesting I have two more hens. Both continue to lay and the problem is they lay in the area where my nesting hen is nesting. My chickens free range and the spot where my nesting hen sits is the place where they have always layed and seems to be their favorite spot. I have not been picking up any eggs in the last week or so because I can't really tell which ones might be new and which ones have been sat on.

I never see my nesting hen leave her spot so I can't mark her eggs.

Thanks for any advice

Kim

 

[HEChicken]

In my very limited experience, yes, the hen knows when an egg is bad and will push it out of the nest.

 

[AAJ]

I had the same problem. She might sense that they will not hatch, but she just does that to let them air out or something. Trust me there is nothing wrong that is normal as long as she puts them back under her.