It is now Day 8 in our 21-day quest for baby chicks. A few days ago when I checked on Calamity Jane in her broody box I found an egg laying by its lonesome on the ground outside the nest. Rejected.
Rejected egg lying on the ground outside the nest
I don’t actually know what happened, but I know that hens will sometimes exclude bad eggs. I candled it and could see the 7-d air sac and a fibrile net on one side confirming that the egg was fertilized and progressing ‘normally’. Maybe it was bad in some other way. Maybe she accidentally pushed it out as she was reorganizing. In retrospect I could have tried putting it back in the nest, but I didn’t know how long it had been out. One less Lavender Orpington egg. 😦
This morning I found one of the Delaware eggs crushed next to the food. Again, I don’t know if it was pushed out first or if it had a weak shell and she crushed it by accident. Either way, that’s two less eggs to sit on. Keeping my fingers crossed that this rate of attrition does not continue!
Next installment: Dumb Cluck
Previous installment: Broody Loves the Box
[Read about CJ’s previous attempt to hatch eggs]
Sustainable Scientist 
Perhaps CJ’s broody business was all just an evil plan she hatched (pun intended) to get a bigger house all to herself. It’s starting to look like this chicken isn’t in it for the chicks, after all!
She certainly seems to be enjoying her new house, but she also seems very dedicated to the 5 remaining eggs (no attrition this past week). One more week to go…
My fingers are crossed for you – I’m hoping for some pictures of cute, fluffy chicks instead of wet looking dead ones 😦