[northfifeduckling]

one of the duck eggs under the broody hen showed a crack last night and I was shooting out this morning full of anticipation - she bl@@$% eat it!!!!
This happened last year and I'm getting fed up with the broody hens - and I'll have to cure them of the egg eating AGAIN

[doganjo]

She ate a chick?  I'd put her in the pot!

[SLI]

Hiya, out of curiosity how did you cure your hens of egg eating?   

[northfifeduckling]

last year one of 6 eggs made it into a chick, all of the other eggs disappeared. No other explanation than cannibalism! 

[OhLaLa]

If is the same broody and you are sure she is eating them, then she has to go.

BUT other options are rats, stoats, weasels. Last year we lost over 50 eggs (under several broodies). They just dissappeared, turned out a stoat got them, luckily we got the stoat.

Can you put some sort of cage around her to stop anything getting into the nest area?

Hope things go well.

[shearling]

Yeh please keep us up-to-date. very interesting (although sorry for you and the chicks about the past)

[Skirza]

Hedgehogs too...we lost a batch of chicks to the little sods one year

[harry]

ive been injecting eggs with liquid rat poison to catch the culprets..... hens rats etc... this time it was a rat

[shearling]

sneeky. Just make sure its not a human

[CameronS]

oh gosh how awful - it must just be something in the fife air  i had two broodys each sat on 12 eggs (covering them fully) in a largeish pen with a divider so they had their own annex. went out on day 19 both buggers had eaten their eggs and abandoned the nest  found one egg still intact 2days later opened it and inside was a fully formed Speckled Sussex chick stone dead - needless to say those two birds will never be used again.

[northfifeduckling]

oh no, Cameron, that's a real blow! Bless your incubator! Are you going to give them the chop or the benefit of doubt? Last year the hen in qustion needed the mustard egg treatment as she had developed a liking for eggs after that....
No sign of life with my remaining overdue eggs, so I'll chuck them later this week, useless. I've never seen one of the broody hens outside to eat, maybe she just got overwhelmed by hunger. Or it could have been any of the others during the night as both hens had refused to be moved to a safe place and I lost 2 batches of eggs that were abandoned. Not a good year for natural breeding here!