Eggs hatching under 2 hens. NEED HELP ASAP!!!!!

[pennie1]

The eggs are starting to hatch under 2 hens. One egg started to crack open and this morning when I looked, that egg had been pecked and the baby was dead inside. Should I take the remaining eggs and put them in an incubator or just wait and see what happens? Should I take the hens out and check the other eggs? The hens are a standard Cochin that has always been an EXCELLENT mother before, and a bantam BR that has never set before and she is about 5 years old. Please give advice ASAP. Thank you all.

 

[ChickDandy]

This is my first time for hatching, and I have two hens who are sitting on eggs. Yesterday I discovered one healthy chick and one that appeared to have died in the egg. The egg had been pecked kind of like you described, but I thought it may have just been the mama trying to give a hand. I removed the dead chick and shell and put the hen back on her last two eggs. This morning, one of those eggs hatched--I was in the coop regularly throughout the morning--and the hen seems to be doing fine with the new chick. I now have two unhatched eggs left (one under each of the new mamas), so I'm just checking things in the coop frequently to see how things are going. Good luck!