Broody issues

[demonic]

I have a broody hen but it took her a while to be full time broody. (First time being broody) We gave her 4 fertilized eggs at first but she, not being fully broody, would sit on her eggs for half the day then not come back when she went to eat. She’s done this for a few days and then she became full broody. I didn’t know if the eggs would hatch or not since she had left them to be cold so I gave her 4 more eggs, in total 8 eggs under her. She would sit on them all day but she would move them so much under her and after a few days every time I checked an egg would be broken. She moved all the straw to the corners of the nesting boxes so she would move eggs around on hard wood and I presumed that’s how they broke. Out of the 4 eggs she had broken, only one had blood in it, the most recent. I’m starting to lose hope for the eggs but since I saw blood and life forming in the last one I still have some hope. What’s best for her and the eggs? Should I move her to a seperate coop with her eggs or will she be lonely without her chicken friends, or not care at all. One chicken doesn’t lay but likes to sit in the nesting box that this hen is broody in, so maybe she accidentally breaks the eggs when she sits there when the broody hen leaves for a moment.

 

[Perris]

She's inexperienced, and so are you, and there's no shortcut to experience, so I would just view this hatch as a learning opportunity for you both. It will be better next time

To the specifics: don't worry about her being off the nest for half the day during the first week; been there, done that, and in my experience it does not impact the development or hatch, at least in summertime temps. Some people prefer to give a new broody fake eggs for a few days until she really settles to the task, and then swap to put the ones you want her to hatch under her.
Broken eggs: accidents happen, and ideally you want to clean up any spilled matter from the nest and remaining eggs, without scrubbing the bloom off them. But if it's dried now I'd just leave it alone. But keep sniffing - a sulphur smell indicates something is rotting inside and such an egg needs to be removed.
Moving her: I wouldn't, as you risk breaking her broodiness (so she abandons the eggs) but I would try to stop the other one getting in. Perhaps confine that one temporarily, just until they've hatched?

Good luck! You will both learn lots on this journey, and I truly believe having broodies and chicks is one of the best parts of chicken keeping. It can be a bit of a roller coaster, but it's worth it