Mom stepped on pipped egg!

[Trinitydraco]

Well, the chick did pop itself out of the egg, the yolk was absorbed, however, it was missing a lot of feathers and just didn’t look right and passed away this evening. I’m thinking that it wasn’t meant to be even under the right circumstances. Thanks again to all that helped. Looking forward to hopefully the last chick tomorrow for the season.

That makes me wonder if the momma didn't know something we didn't. I have heard of animals culling sickly offspring before. It's just a theory on my part but maybe she could tell by smell or feel that it wasn't right so she stepped on it. Either way she sounds like a great momma hen and you sound like a great chicken Momma!

 

[Abriana]

I agree! I have a hen that lets me check her eggs on a constant basis, even during hatching, and I've never had any issues with her harming the eggs or chicks. Sounds like it was just an accident on the hens part and not intentional at all.

Me either. A hen stepped on one of my hatching eggs and it wasn’t the mom. It was nobody’s fault.

 

[angela0408]

That makes me wonder if the momma didn't know something we didn't. I have heard of animals culling sickly offspring before. It's just a theory on my part but maybe she could tell by smell or feel that it wasn't right so she stepped on it. Either way she sounds like a great momma hen and you sound like a great chicken Momma!

Mother Nature does seem to know what she’s doing sometimes. Now that I think about it, the egg was rather pourous, so that may have had something to do with it. 6 live chicks and 2 loses, pretty good I think. I do love all of my critters, wouldn’t be then firstime I had one beside my bed in a box.