All my chickens sharing a box

[Merc_smallFarms]

Hello! I’ll try to keep this short but no promises. So from the beginning I had one chicken Henrietta and four nest boxes. Henrietta picked her box and continued to lay there for months. I got two new chickens Anastasia and Thumbelina. These two shared a different nesting box for a while before one of them laid in Henrietta’s box. Then the other laid in a different box to which then Henrietta started laying in, now all three only lay in that one. Problem is Anastasia has turned broody so she spends most of her time in that box. I’ve seen Thumbelina lay an egg on top of her and they’ve argued about. Anastasia has like maybe ten or more eggs under her which is too much. Should I do something and like what or let them work it out?
Picture one is from a few days ago. Picture two is today.

 

[GlicksChicks]

If you want her to hatch eggs out, I would recommend moving her to a makeshift nest in a caged off area in the coop. I made one for my hen out of a cardboard box. If she is truly a hardcore broody hen, she will not care about being moved and lay on her eggs like normal. If she isn't a hsrdcore broody, then the cage can also work as a broody jail.

It is hard to break hens from laying in a single nesting box. I am lucky to have mine laying in 2/5 boxes. I even have fake eggs in the boxes that aren't being used to no avail. They will either ignore them, move them to another nesting box, or kick the fake eggs out all togethef.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Anastasia has like maybe ten or more eggs under her which is too much. Should I do something and like what or let them work it out?

Are you intending for her to hatch? Are the eggs fertile?

If yes to the above:
1) Did you mark all the eggs in the initial batch? A staggered hatch is a bad idea and you want to avoid that.
2) Have you consistently removed all the non-marked eggs? A hen can only keep so many eggs warm and your hatch rate will suffer if she's trying to manage a bigger clutch than she can handle.

 

[Merc_smallFarms]

Are you intending for her to hatch? Are the eggs fertile?

If yes to the above:
1) Did you mark all the eggs in the initial batch? A staggered hatch is a bad idea and you want to avoid that.
2) Have you consistently removed all the non-marked eggs? A hen can only keep so many eggs warm and your hatch rate will suffer if she's trying to manage a bigger clutch than she can handle.

We did want her to hatch but mainly her eggs, Henrietta is a double fizzle and I’ve heard it’s not good to breed them. I don’t know for sure if they’re fertile, I have a rooster but don’t know if he’s doing the deed, I’m waiting for day ten to candle the eggs. I also haven’t marked them. I’ll move some today though.

 

[Merc_smallFarms]

Are you intending for her to hatch? Are the eggs fertile?

If yes to the above:
1) Did you mark all the eggs in the initial batch? A staggered hatch is a bad idea and you want to avoid that.
2) Have you consistently removed all the non-marked eggs? A hen can only keep so many eggs warm and your hatch rate will suffer if she's trying to manage a bigger clutch than she can handle.

Also how many eggs would you say is safe for her to have?

 

[Ridgerunner]

We did want her to hatch but mainly her eggs, Henrietta is a double fizzle and I’ve heard it’s not good to breed them.

It is not good to breed a Frizzle to a Frizzle. About 25% of the eggs will not hatch. A Frizzle has one Frizzle gene and a not-Frizzle gene at that gene pair. When you breed two frizzles (I assume that is what you mean by double frizzle) about 25% will not get any frizzle genes and will not be frizzle. About half will inherit one frizzle gene and one not-frizzle gene and be a frizzle. About 25% will inherit both frizzle genes and die. If you breed a frizzle to a not-frizzle about half will be frizzles and half will be not-frizzles but all eggs could hatch.

Also how many eggs would you say is safe for her to have?

Eggs and hens come in different sizes. A bantam may have trouble covering 4 or 5 regular-sized hen eggs. A regular dual-purpose hen could cover a lot of bantam eggs.

I once had a hen that hid a nest and brought off 18 chicks. I never did find that nest so I have no idea how many total eggs she started with but obviously she could handle 18. I typically give a hen 12 eggs of the size she lays. That usually works. But one time I had a hen that could not cover 12 so I removed two and she only had ten. I try to not be so rigid I can't react to circumstances. If something doesn't work out I'm willing to change.

I agree a staggered hatch is bad. I save up all the eggs I want a hen to hatch, mark them, and give them to her at the same time so they should hatch together. Every day I check under her after the others have laid and remove any that don't belong. I don't know how long your hen has been broody or how many eggs are under her so I don't know how big the risk of a staggered hatch is. I'd be tempted to save up the eggs I want her to hatch, mark them, and start them when I boil up the eggs now under her to feed back to the flock. But many people would go forward with a staggered hatch.

Some of us let a hen hatch with the flock. I do and above is how I handle that. Others isolate a broody hen from the flock while incubating and hatching. I don't see anything wrong with either method. There are benefits and disadvantages to both.

Good luck!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Also how many eggs would you say is safe for her to have?

I've never hatched but Ridgerunner has very good advice. Really have to see what she can reasonably cover, physically, and how large the eggs are compared to her body. If she's smaller, then fewer eggs would likely give you a better hatch rate.