The case of the missing chick???

[mopsee2000]

I woke yesterday and checked the eggs. One egg looked as if it hatched. The mother was sitting outside the nest beside the newly hatched egg shell. There were seven eggs still in the nest. She was not and did not lay on the leftover eggs for the rest of the day. I never found the missing baby. My theories are ridiculous but are; 1. mother ate the newborn 2. the newborn died at birth and the mother suffered from depression 3. it escaped through a crack in the bottom of the cage and nature took care of the rest. The hen was secluded and no other chicks had access to the nest. There is about a 1 inch space in the bottom of the door. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MISSING CHICK???

 

[annanimal]

The mother could just have accidentally cracked the egg and then ate it, or the egg was bad and she was hungry so again she ate it... Who knows...

 

[happyhens1972]

Your theories are not ridiculous at all and every one of them is possible. Also, it is possible a rat got in and took your chick....a rat needs the smallest of spaces to gain access. They have cartilageous skeletons and can compress themselves to what seems a totally unfeasible size to get through cracks....and the chick would be the same...dead or alive, it would have been easy for it to squeeze or be squeezed through a one inch gap.