I MESSED UP! I am SO MAD at myself.....



I had 4 broody hens sitting in 4 different nesting boxes. After the first 1 (or 2?) hatched a couple of chickens, three of the broodies pretty much quit sitting on the nests and collectively tried to raise the 3 chicks. I also purchased 6 day-old chicks and put them under the 3 broodies who had all moved into ONE large nesting box.
In the meantime, Broody #4 still kept sitting on her nest with no chicks hatching. The other 2 abandoned nests kept collecting more and more eggs as the other chickens started laying in them again. As of yesterday, I noticed that Broody #4 was leaving the nest more and more. I figured she was getting ready to give up because it has been a month and she still didn't hatch any eggs. To be fair, I'm CERTAIN they are fertilized....
So today, I found one of the chicks dead in the chicken yard. It had been limping so I'm guessing that the others pecked it to death. I went into the yard to clean it up and also peeked in the coop. Broody #4 had left the nest yet again....but I also had a new broody who decided to take up residence in one of the abandoned nests that is LOADED with eggs. I assumed most of them are probably dead since they've been left.
So what did I do???? I grabbed up a bucket and scooped up all the eggs from all 4 of the original broodies' nests. I figured they would all be dead or just recently laid. I moved the new broody to a different nesting box that has 4 recently laid eggs in it. Then I took the bucket out to chuck the dead eggs.... Only, THEY WEREN'T DEAD.

Had I honestly thought ANY of them would be viable, I would have (should have) candled them.... But I really thought surely none of them were alive. When I chucked the eggs, several broke and revealed viable (gasping) chicks in them which I'm certain will die now.
I feel so terrible!!! I know it was a mistake but I feel just awful that I killed them....