Day 12 - Possible Broody Catastrophe

Broody hens should have poops like this... they're big because they don't get up off the nest very often to go (they pee and poop in one blob). However, when I went outside yesterday morning, there was an unbelievable smell coming from the broody coop. THE STENCH WAS UNREAL!! The broody hen had pooped all inside the nest and all over the eggs, she did not look well at all! I did not take any photos or videos during this time because it was DISGUSTING!

So I proceeded to clean the nest, wash the eggs, wash the hen's bum, blow it dry with a hair dryer (imagine that) and she was still pooping like crazy. I wasn't sure what was causing the issue, so I did a little reading and found out that she may have had an impacted crop. The crop of a chicken is a little storage pouch the food goes into after it eats, but sometimes food gets stuck. I think the hen was drinking a lot more than she usually does.

I opened up the coop door and gave the hen access to the outside so she could fill up her food grinding gizzard with tiny stones again and have a glorious dust bath. She eventually went back and sat on the next and looks much better today.

My worry is that I may have disturbed the eggs to much by washing the poop off them. As the chick develops inside the egg, they can be sensitive to whats going on outside the shell.

Source: http://chickscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/resources/egg_to_chick/development.html

Usually I "candle" the eggs by this stage of development and see which eggs are fertilized and which are not. In order to "candle" an egg, you shine a bright light though the shell in a dark room and you can see how the chick is developing. However, in light of the pooping trauma over the past day or do, I think I'll leave the broody hen alone for awhile.

Source: https://incubatorwarehouse.com/egg-candling