Hen covering other hens eggs--staggered batch- what should I do??

[Poulepantalons]

HELP!
I have four hens who are currently laying eggs. They ALL LAY in the same nest. We take eggs out everyday, leaving only one egg in the nest. Last Friday, one of them decided to start covering. Since then, the other hens have been laying next to her and she scoots the fresh eggs under her. She now is covering eleven eggs! A totally staggered batcH!

These are the interventions that have taken place:

creating a new nest near the laying hen with an egg to entice the other hens (didn't work)
physically placing other hens on the new nest while they are laying (didn't work)
covering other hens while they are laying on the new nest with a laundry basket (didn't work)

Today we put the covering hen in a nesting box (yes, I should've done this in the first place) so she physically cannot scoot the other eggs under her. Hopefully this will work.. but otherwise.. any suggestions? We've thought about throwing all the eggs away but I we really want to avoid this.

Tiffany

 

[Lisa202]

You should mark the eggs (with a pencil) that you give her on the first day, and then take away the others she collects every day.

Since you didn't do that, if the eggs are only a day apart for 2 or 3 days, then maybe it'll be ok that they will be hatching within a few days of each other. If she has a weeks worth of eggs under her, then I don't know what you should do...I'm sure others will be along with great answers.