Hatching problems

[Abbie smith]

Hello!
Looking for some advice. I have two chickens who have been sat on eggs for almost 19 days ( not completely sure). I had one chick hatch two days ago and everything seemed completely normal, the hatching started with piping and took a few hours. But with two of my eggs today I have noticed there are big visible cracks! I have heard that many people use nail varnish or wax to fix these cracks but I am unsure weather this is normal, or if the chicken has accidentally damaged them. I also found a dead chick under one chicken before my first successful hatch 3 days ago, I don’t know if this is related but I was unsure why it died. Please give me any advice!! Thanks.

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
The 19 day old eggs have cracks? Trying to patch a crack in an egg that is a day or two away from hatch is a bit like closing the barn door after the horse is gone.
Are these first time broodies?
Are the eggs with the cracks under the hen that had the dead chick under her?
Did the one live chick hatch out under the broody with the dead chick, cracked eggs or what??

 

[sourland]

Hello, and welcome to BYC. Generally cracked eggs result when other hens try to access the nest of the setting hen.

 

[Isaac 0]

Welcome to BYC!

 

[007Sean]

Howdy and Welcome to Backyard Chickens.

Thanks for joining us!

 

[rjohns39]

Hi Abbie and welcome to BYC We're so happy you've decided to join us

 

[Abbie smith]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
The 19 day old eggs have cracks? Trying to patch a crack in an egg that is a day or two away from hatch is a bit like closing the barn door after the horse is gone.
Are these first time broodies?
Are the eggs with the cracks under the hen that had the dead chick under her?
Did the one live chick hatch out under the broody with the dead chick, cracked eggs or what??

Hello, thank you!
So yes, I have two first time Broodies sat on 6 eggs each. The eggs with cracks are not under the hen that had the dead chick under her, but the two hens do like to steal the eggs from one another!!! The chick that hatched was not under the hen that had the dead chick. I know it confusing

 

[Abbie smith]

Hello, and welcome to BYC. Generally cracked eggs result when other hens try to access the nest of the setting hen.

Thank you, now thinking about it I think this may be why because my two hens try to steal each other’s eggs.

 

[DobieLover]

Thank you, now thinking about it I think this may be why because my two hens try to steal each other’s eggs.

It's not ideal to have two broodies sitting within access of each other. They will always want to steal all the eggs and damage can result.

 

[Abbie smith]

It's not ideal to have two broodies sitting within access of each other. They will always want to steal all the eggs and damage can result.

Thanks, in the future I’ll make sure this doesn’t happen.