Bad hen?

[tlscott54]

My cochin hen went broody and laid 8 eggs. She hatched out 3 and they are with her. One she hatched and I took as she wasn't taking care of and it is fine. Found a hatched chick dead and one that tried to hatch and was pushed out of nest and died in the egg and one egg not hatched yet. Is this hen just not a good hen to hatch chicks? Should I not let her go broody anymore or were there just too many eggs for her?

 

[Johnn]

My cochin hen went broody and laid 8 eggs. She hatched out 3 and they are with her. One she hatched and I took as she wasn't taking care of and it is fine. Found a hatched chick dead and one that tried to hatch and was pushed out of nest and died in the egg and one egg not hatched yet. Is this hen just not a good hen to hatch chicks? Should I not let her go broody anymore or were there just too many eggs for her?

Is this her first time? Its probably just because she doesn't know what she's doing and was paying attention to her hatched chicks. Could she get off the nest as she may have left them cold for too long which caused death to the eggs. Also the dead hatching chick might have been pushed out because it died during the middle of hatching. I wouldn't not use her again. As long as she is taking care of her remaining chicks then I would just put it down to lack of experience.