Some chicks some eggs and one mom

[maltby]

We have a mom (wyandotte, we call her Fluffy butt), when she went broodie it was hard to keep track of the eggs she was sitting on, other chickens kept on laying eggs in the same box, but when we moved her to the broodie box she had seven. Now 4 of the eggs have hatched but there is still a total of 6 eggs in the box. Her broodie box was inside the coop because we still have another batch of chicks in the other separate broodie box. I candled them yesterday and I think (not good at this) all of them are viable...but today I came home and she has already taken her chicks outside. So as far as I know she hasn't been sitting on the eggs all afternoon, they're cold to the touch. Don't know what to do.
We could try to push the pullets out of the broodie box...but we have another momma chicken (sweetheart, that has not been so tender hearted towards them)
I could try to home make an incubator and give them a little extra warm time to try to hatch....
I could just see what happens...
Dunno...
HELP?!
and thank you in advance for any insight.

 

[bobbi-j]

Unfortunately, that can happen with a "staggered hatch" (eggs not being set at the same time). The hen usually stays on the nest for a day or so after hatching begins and then takes the chicks that have hatched, thinking the others won't hatch You can try artificially incubating them. The worst that will happen is they won't hatch. In the future, you can mark the eggs you want your hen to hatch, then check daily and remove any extras she has acquired throughout the day. Or separate her altogether if you have the space.