Broody Pullet(s)

[Not-so Slick Chicken]

Kind of an update, but not much change.

The 3 remaining chicks are about a week old (depending on how you count it).

Ameraucana is still the primary caretaker.

Austra White still wants to be involved. She also isn't sure if she wants to be broody, since she has no chicks to care for. She changes between sleeping on the floor, nest, and roosts.

So, the momma birds won't leave the coop (I put chick food and a waterer in there last week) so the chicks haven't gone outside.
A couple days ago, one of the chicks ended up outside (in the run) and it was surprisingly hard to catch. Neither of the moms went out for it.
I put the Austra White out and closed her out for maybe a minute (since she wants to raise them so bad, figured this was her chance for one). I didn't see if she went up to it since it was a solid wall I was staring at, but she was only interested in the ones in the coop.
Eventually caught the chick and put it in the coop. No problems getting back with the broodies.

Picture is from last week (they seem to be growing slow. Pullet eggs were about medium sized)

 

[Not-so Slick Chicken]

Yesterday, 2 chicks ended up in the run (how fun to try and catch them...)

Today when I was ending free-range time, happily surprised to see all 3 chicks and the 2 moms in the run, enjoying the dirt.
Moved the food and water out for them.
The ramp into the coop is about a foot long, so they could navigate it if they could figure it out.

 

[Not-so Slick Chicken]

Somehow, the chicks were all back in the coop for the night. Not sure how they did that, but that's great.
(Under the ameraucana, of course)

Austra White was in the nest boxes... and there was another broken egg under her.
As you can imagine, I'm getting... a little concerned?
I think it was just 1 this time. Both times, the one that was soaked into the shavings was a white egg (I have 2 white egg layers) so I don't know if there's a fluke with the eggshell suddenly, or if she's the cause.

I have occasionally had some eggs break because they hit another egg or something hard. A few thin shells, too.
At least up until now, I haven't had any egg eaters in this young flock. So I'm hoping this isn't the start of one.

As far as the Austra White's behavior, is anybody familiar with this situation? New broody, hatched eggs, has all the chicks stolen from her. And now is caught between trying to care for them during the day, and wanting to hatch eggs at night.

What do you think?