This Spring, when I had so many more Broodies than space, I had 3 hens that I put eggs under on the same day. I put the 3 of them in a pen that was only 4 x 6. Each Broody had a plastic tote as a nest box with each opening pointed to a corner. I never had them switch nests or steal eggs or abandon one nest in favor of fighting over another. Then, on hatching day, after half the eggs hatched, I gave all the chicks to one hen, all the eggs to another hen and moved her to a temporarily open pen, so that she would not abandon the nest to try to take care of chicks. The 3rd hen was super thin, so I put her in a cage to break her broodiness. When all the eggs that were viable hatched, I gave the chicks to the hen that already had the chicks and put the 2nd hen in a cage to break her broodiness. (Normally, I like to let every hen have chicks, but I ran out of room).
I keep Broodies separate from my flock, so that I know what eggs she is sitting on and that they are all given to her on the same day. When I have a hen that abandons the rest of the eggs, in favor of taking care of chicks, I take the chicks away temporarily or put them back on the nest, so she goes back to the eggs if I think they still might hatch. The hen settles down then and goes back to incubating mode.
I have only learned all this from making a ton of mistakes. And every broody hen is different. And every situation is different.
Good luck with hatching the rest.
Dale-Ann
