tossed "egg"= lost interest???

[noodles123]

Noodles' egg was replaced by a "dummy egg" within a minute of her seeing it for the first time in full light---I took her to eat and switched the real for the fake.


She sort of sat on the fake one for like 2 seconds yesterday, but she wasn't a very good mother to the real one either though, because when I woke up, she was on her perch and the real egg was on the ground. Within the first 24 hours, she pushed the fake around some, but never really sat on it...


Today, she started carrying the dummy egg around and eventually tossed it off the cage. That having been said, when she sees it, she still seems intrigued.



Do I pick it up and put it back in, or leave it where it landed (if she is still interested somewhat)? I've never seen such odd "parenting" behavior lol...

 

[Laurasea]

leave it. When my laid eggs, she never gave them a second thought or tried to sit.
Noodles clearly isn't broody..

 

[noodles123]

leave it. When my laid eggs, she never gave them a second thought or tried to sit.
Noodles clearly isn't broody..

But at one point, she took it into her cage and was trying to wrap it in a rope toy lol! That was pretty broody....so I'm just not sure that she was done...she's a clumsy gal...but I don't want to create interest...She did drop it and then toss it..sooo....hoping I can assume she's done.

 

[LaManuka]

I think it sounds like Noodles is done for now too. There's a good chance she doesn't recognise the egg for what it is, as many captive hens unaccustomed to laying don't. I think you might find if you take it away overnight she may not even go looking for it in the morning. The great unknowable of course is whether she has another one on the way already. If this was Lilly then the answer to that question would be definitely yes, but Noodles may very well not, based on your previous experience. I'm sorry I can't give you a more definitive answer on this one, individual results certainly do vary!

 

[SailBoat]

If her style of care for the egg would have resulted in a chick... Yaaa, it wouldn't have so, lost interest and plays from time to time, but not as mom...

Lost interest and has moved on. Kind of like that toy that if you place it back, it may get a moment or two and then gone...