[henryrook]

I had 13 eggs under a very reliable broody hen and this afternoon i checked on her and 2 eggs have gone, with a bit of shell and yolk left on the wood shavings. She left the nest this morning to eat etc with the rest of the hens, and hasn't been off since. Could she be very hungry and eating her eggs or is she just a clumsy hen who smashed 2 eggs and thought she might as well eat them? Shes a big hen and has hatched 15 eggs before so i dont think she is struggling with incubating them.

Thanks for any help

Henry Rook

[SarahJane72]

I had 2 of my broodys who were eating their infertile eggs but they managed to carry on sitting and hatched out the rest of the fertile eggs so I don't know whether they eat them instead of rolling them out of the nest if they are infertile.

[henryrook]

How would she know if they are infertile though? Also, if she eats the eggs before they hatch then how do you know that they were infertile? They never had a chance to hatch?

Thanks for your reply!

[SarahJane72]

Somehow broodys just seem to know if there are dud eggs under them, they have this sixth sense I think. I always trust a broody and what she does with her eggs.