Cracked fertilized eggs in coop

[Jjdesmo11]

hi, letting my hen sit on some eggs and she has been doing fine. Today I came to check because I assumed I’d have babies soon based on my calculations sadly I found 2 of my 5 eggs broke with fertilized babies in them. Heart breaking! should be hatching this week. be Should I separate her from the flock? I left her in the coop with 4 hens and a rooster. Or would that stress her out and she might not lay on them?

 

[Crazy for Chickens!]

Well it is a risk both ways. If you let her stay, the other chickens may crack them. If you move, there is a slight chance she mig not any to sit, but it should work.
Set up a separate pen that is predator proof. Make sure the food and water is away, so she can't spill it on the eggs.
Wait until it is completely dark outside. Then quietly move the eggs into the other pen, into the nest. Then carefully and quietly pick p the hen, and gently set her down on the eggs. She should just reposition herself, then go back to sleep. Ideally, it would be best if you either don't use a flash light,or you have a separate person go ahead of you with it. Don't shine lights on the hen or anything.
If for some reason, she is off the nest and upset in the morning, just put the eggs back where she was originally, and put her back. She will remember it, and should settle down. But I've never had a hen be unhappy if you do it at night.

 

[sylviethecochin]

Agree with Crazy for Chickens, but instead of a pen, I use a cardboard box, mostly closed. There's enough light filtering in that she can see the provided water, but not much else. That way, I can control when she really sees the new surroundings—which is hopefully around the time the chicks start pipping and she's too distracted by the peeps to care about her surroundings.

Works on the sister of my avatar, anyway. She likes to choose really dumb nesting spots. Great mother, but stinky nests.

 

[Jjdesmo11]

Thanks for your responses. I want to give them the best chance of survival. I have a big water trough I planned to use if we ever got babies. I’ll give that a try!