different age eggs under broody who stole them,some info needed

[strangeanimal]

Hi everyone ,

My broody was a collector of eggs , now the thing is that all the eggs she is sitting on seem fertile yet all kinds of dates of laying ... she took eggs from other hens and is a ' lone survivor ' of a desease that has been around here , so the rest of them died .
today I noticed on egg showing a crack and I assumed it was just broken and wanted to throw it away untill I notice this little beak ... meaning there are a few ( or maybe just this one ) hatching , other eggs show they are far from hatchingday yet are very alive and rom around the same date .
I'm aware of the fact this is (usually ) not done but she is the lone survivor and I wanted to grant her and myself a favor , also in loving memory of those who died , they wanted their kids to grow up , she stole them and is taking care of them , I know it may sound very pathetic but if there is one thing I wish for my birds that died , it is that they still have their big wish come true , their babies alive and taken care of , I know this is how those birds would have wanted it and on top of that I too lost ' loved ones ' , my birds , so the thing is now , what do I have to do if one is hatching and she gets of nest ? do I seperate 'mother ' and child ? or ? could it be she'd stay on the eggs ?
Ty in advance
p.s. : date of eggs is unknown , she took them from all kinds of birds and have been hiding them too untill recently she stays in a ' broodycoop '

 

[AlleysChicks]

Do you have a incubator? Due to the different dates they may not hatch because she will need to leave the nest with her new babies to take care of them. So eggs will probably be left behind. Also do you know how many eggs she has under her?

 

[strangeanimal]

Do you have a incubator? Due to the different dates they may not hatch because she will need to leave the nest with her new babies to take care of them. So eggs will probably be left behind. Also do you know how many eggs she has under her?

Hi , first of all , thanks for your reply here , I'm totally new in this , being close at it .
My incubator has some defects so that is one of the reasons I do not even dare to put them in . It is a DIY incubater ( flatbreeder ) made in glas and wood on top for the last day , when they hatch , it has a heatsensor and so also a heatlamp in ceramics plus on the sensor is that thing attached to put time , degree , etc , so it keeps the same temp inside , yet it is not doing that , temperature deflects way too often and too much , plus humidity doesn't get measured as it should , when humidity is about 50 percentage , it gives easily that the humidity is only 30 or better yet he claims over 70 % , so not reliable unfurtunately .
how many eggs is different to tell due the fact she still keeps hiding her eggs as if she is willing to go for a second one , yesterday for example I counted 15 eggs , today I counted 18 because I cleaned out and found them hidden on a spot in the nestbox under a lot of hay , so she is often busy building nests with hay but not only the nest she sits on , also from the other hen ( she was inside too when the outbreak happened so also a survivor yet she is never been in contact with her so for the one we re talking about she actually is the lone survivor ) she has been taking eggs , that one is on and of broody and used to be totally broody but as we speak , she also notices the more quiteness and is constantly depressed and wondering where the rest is poor thing . So this one here steals all the eggs and doesn't only set , but also creates spots to hatch on later , this nest she started to hatch right away , lots of those eggs are hers but now way too many other eggs showed up from other hens , and there was another hen hatching so these eggs might come out way much earlier than hers while intention was now that she first of all did NOT hatch at all given the conditions she could be ill yet she never showed any symptoms and she feels actually very well and did not have lots of contact with the others , almost like she is more on her own , odd I know but we do not even know what breed she is , the only guess we have is that she is either a black/rhode rock hen or if not that ( while it is a spittin image plus she has all the things written about that hybride ) she is a mixture and a black sexlink . it is a quite tough bird and the breed I mentioned Is known for such immunity too , so let me first of all explain the reason why she is hatching , this was not the plan , the plan was a marans hatching hers , but it became the other way around as she is the only hen I got now too that is broody and serious about it , she sits on the nest day and night but despite that when she eats , poops , drinks she makes a little walk and what do we find out she had been doing ? oh ok she just stole more eggs either from one of her hidingspots , or she took it from another mother , so at this point there are around 16 to 18 eggs under her but what I do not really understand is the fact she went sitting on them right away from as soon as she layed one instead of collecting them first and then set on it , she went to set on the first two eggs she layed and one she stole , since that day she gets on and of the nest on occasion to eat and drink but only for a very short time to stretch her legs and eat , drink , poo , steal , steal , steal so she must know that the age of the eggs is different I assumed ?? she is also still laying so this broody is a very strange one in fact , altough it reduced from 3 to one egg a day , so I do not really get it myself because hatching is really been taken seriously by her . As I now had in mind was the half broody in case she is leaving her nest but is that a good option as she really is only like half broody and I can take her eggs anytime I like while before she got angry and even growld and pecked my hand but now not anymore ? seriously big letter here I know but I think those two are as confusing as the time of the eggs ! plse do forgive me ...