Hen ate chicken fetus!

[giapet]

My broody hen started out sitting on 9 eggs. My dog ate one on day 3, we found a crushed egg about 10 days in, and today (day 18) I saw one of my hens chasing another hen with something dangling out of her mouth. That “something” was limp legs attached to a chicken fetus.

I checked on my broody hen and she was still sitting on the remaining 6 eggs. The broken egg was in front of her and she was eating out bloody goop from the broken shell.

Any idea what happened? What do I need to do to protect the other eggs that are about to hatch? Was this a premature hatch or could the broody hen have “rejected” this egg? This is my first time letting my broody hen hatch eggs (I bought some fertilized eggs from a farm because i don’t have a rooster). Google didn’t give me the answers I was hoping for. Thanks!

 

[SueT]

Welcome to BYC....well chickens will eat damaged eggs, and I guess from your story that includes half incubated ones. I would monitor them and make sure the intact eggs are not being hurt. BTW, how did you dog get to where the eggs are? It would seem imperative to have them in a safe locale....

 

[giapet]

Welcome to BYC....well chickens will eat damaged eggs, and I guess from your story that includes half incubated ones. I would monitor them and make sure the intact eggs are not being hurt. BTW, how did you dog get to where the eggs are? It would seem imperative to have them in a safe locale....

 

[giapet]

The dog topic is kind of irrelevant, but I’ll explain my setup if need be. My dogs have always been around my chickens, although the chickens have a secure chicken run. My dogs are not outside when we are not home (they are crate trained), nor are they around my chickens when we are not present. We have a large coop (l can stand up in it) and my husband left the door open to give the chickens full yard access when he was collecting eggs one day. This is our first time with fertilized eggs and for whatever reason, my dog went in the coop, stole an egg, and ate it. Haven’t left the door open since. Nor has the dog ever eaten a chicken egg in year. It was an isolated incident.

 

[giapet]

Don’t worry, I check my dog daily in true Rescuers Down Under fashion.