Fresh egg or half hatched egg?

[Boneheadeb]

I have a broody hen (buff orp). She's been setting on eggs for over 2 weeks. Shortly after she started setting I marked 10 eggs and pulled the rest out. My other hens keep laying in the same box she is setting in, and I have been trying to diligently remove all new eggs. I'm not always successful. How can I tell if an egg is fresh or half-baked? We've been cracking them into a bowl before using or giving questionable ones to the dogs. Is there an easy test similar to floating eggs to see if they are fresh? I'm giving her another week of setting then I plan to just pick up all the eggs daily no matter if she decides to keep setting or not.

Thanks, and sorry if this has been covered earlier. I just can't read through thousands of posts in numerous threads trying to ferret out the answer.

 

[foreverlearning]

Float test and cracking into a bowl are the two best ways to tell. I suggest you put her and the eggs somewhere that the other hens cannot get into. The other hens can crush both her eggs and newly hatched chicks. To keep them in the coop I just put some plastic netting around the nest box and provide food and water in it.