Chicks are hatching and then mysteriously dying...

[Flying P Ranch]

Hello. First time mama hen and her (duck) best friend were sitting on 10 chicken eggs (none of which were her own and 1 duck egg). First issue is that it is a staggered clutch. Second issue, they are all of the chicken eggs are olive eggers that were unable to candle because of how dark they are. The duckling hatched and on day 3, I found her dead in the nest under the two mamas. With great difficulty, I was able to remove the duck to leave the hen on the 10 chicken eggs. Day 4, chick hatched. I moved it to brooder concerned because of the duckling death. Day 5 another chick in the brooder. Day 7 found chick hatched but dead, looked like maybe mama may have tried to help it out of the shell. Its rear end was exploded. Day 8 now and another chick was hatched. When I found it was still wet and lethargic. Couldn't hold it's head up, so I put it back under mama. 3 hours later it's deceased and mama has kicked another egg out of the nest....
Idk whats going on here. Should I get the incubator going and remove the remaining eggs? I hope I explained the occurrences simply enough and didn't confuse anyone... thank you. I refer to this group often, but this is my first post.

 

[ksbkeys]

Hello. First time mama hen and her (duck) best friend were sitting on 10 chicken eggs (none of which were her own and 1 duck egg). First issue is that it is a staggered clutch. Second issue, they are all of the chicken eggs are olive eggers that were unable to candle because of how dark they are. The duckling hatched and on day 3, I found her dead in the nest under the two mamas. With great difficulty, I was able to remove the duck to leave the hen on the 10 chicken eggs. Day 4, chick hatched. I moved it to brooder concerned because of the duckling death. Day 5 another chick in the brooder. Day 7 found chick hatched but dead, looked like maybe mama may have tried to help it out of the shell. Its rear end was exploded. Day 8 now and another chick was hatched. When I found it was still wet and lethargic. Couldn't hold it's head up, so I put it back under mama. 3 hours later it's deceased and mama has kicked another egg out of the nest....
Idk whats going on here. Should I get the incubator going and remove the remaining eggs? I hope I explained the occurrences simply enough and didn't confuse anyone... thank you. I refer to this group often, but this is my first post.

How are the chicks doing that you moved to the brooder? If they are doing fine, I would have to think the hen is hurting them.

 

[Love Donkeys]

A few years ago we had 2 hens setting next to each other...if I remember correctly they both had the same number of eggs under them. When the chicks hatched they all died within 2 or 3 days. At the time we thought the hens didn't bond with the chicks. Each hen may have thought the chick belong to the other hen and they killed the poor chick for intruding. We never let the hens share a nest again.

 

[Flying P Ranch]

How are the chicks doing that you moved to the brooder? If they are doing fine, I would have to think the hen is hurting them.

They are doing great! Another one is starting to pip. I'll keep checking on it and take it from her as soon as it hatches.

 

[Yardmom]

Make sure there are not any mites or other pests. Mites can kill young chicks (ducklings)

Sometimes chicks can get squished in the shuffling of a double nests, or as mentioned before sometimes broodies attack chicks if they are not there own. There is also the possibility of a new mama wondering what are these things and attacking their own hatched.
I do allow double nests in one of my coops, but not the other. I have not had luck with a double duck nest. Sometimes it works well, but the chances of something going wrong are pretty high.