An egg in the road...what the heck? Opinions anybody?

[Turkeyman11]

Sunday afternoon I took my nephew turkey hunting in Utah.  We head up the mountain to about 8500 feet in elevation in search of a Merriams.  It had been snowing off and on all day so we decided to drive up a road in search of sign.  As I'm driving along I spot a fresh hen track in the snow walking right up the shoulder of the road.  As we continue on I'm continuing to watch her tracks and right smack dab in the middle of her tracks is an egg.  Does anybody have any idea what might have happened or why she would drop an egg right there?  Thanks.

[Strick9]

First year hen most likely and wasn't sure of her instinctual cues/signs. She may indeed drop and loose all of her first clutch in same manner.

[silvestris]

Most likely a young hen that has not yet learned what to do with her eggs.  If so, she will likely come around.  The other explanation is a predator that stole the egg and changed its mind.  I found an egg in a road partially cracked open.  I took the egg home and kept the nearly fully hatched corpse in formaldehyde for years until my wife threw it away without permission.

[Tail Feathers]

I guess she couldn't hold it any longer!

[YELPA]

Found one in middle of a large crop field once years ago.  My hypothesis to throw in the pot is as follows: hen was in midst of laying clutch when nest was destroyed prior to laying last egg(s), which caused abandonment of nest; without a nest and no effort to establish another nest mid-clutch, she just began dropping whatever eggs were yet left. 

[THattaway]

Not that uncommon in the area I hunt. Usually see one or two a season. Figure the hen just had a "pain" at an inopportune time. I have experienced the same once in a while but I didn't lay an egg. 

[J Lacey]

Something may have spooked her. I spooked a hen on the roadside once as I was driving. She took flight and ejected an egg in mid flight. Egg landed right in the middle of the road.

[Yoder409]

She apparently had one prairie doggin' and was nowhere near her nest.

[2eagles]

I've seen eggs in the trail where I hunt, but for a different reason. I hunt river bottoms and I've always thought high water washed out the nest and the eggs rolled with the current.

[TerryLNanny]

Turkey's are generally stupid. I have three Gobblers and four hen's out back. Same thing eggs on the ground. They have plenty of hay, places to make a nest. Usually hatch off one or two a year. Actually had a turkey hatch off a peacock egg last year. They still hang out together.

[THattaway]

I've raised quail and turkeys under the same quail hen. You see a hen quail with a dozen quail chicks under her and a couple turkey chicks trying to get under her when they are almost as big as her, big old heads poking out from her wings. Ditto for pheasants. Mamma loves them all.