What is going on with my hen?

[siroco]

Hi all,

I have a broody hen, and another hen that layed eggs inn the same spot. unfortunately they selected the same place to sit down. I am afraid the broody hen now has too many eggs under as she crushed one egg open and the chick died.... One was just hatching today, but when she got back from her daily stroll today, I could hear a shell crushing sound, not sure if its alive
none of the other eggs have beeping nor cracks from the chicks.

Last year we didnt have this problem, and it was on the same place, just the other hen and the size of her eggs are bigger; I dont want to go through this in the future, what do you guys recommend to prevent this?

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Hi all,

I have a broody hen, and another hen that layed eggs inn the same spot. unfortunately they selected the same place to sit down. I am afraid the broody hen now has too many eggs under as she crushed one egg open and the chick died.... One was just hatching today, but when she got back from her daily stroll today, I could hear a shell crushing sound, not sure if its alive
none of the other eggs have beeping nor cracks from the chicks.

Last year we didnt have this problem, and it was on the same place, just the other hen and the size of her eggs are bigger; I dont want to go through this in the future, what do you guys recommend to prevent this?

The first step if you have a broody who will be hatching within the flock or in an area that is accessible to other hens is to mark the eggs you start her with on day 1. Each day after that, check her nest and remove all unmarked eggs as these will be eggs that were added that day by other hens laying into her nest. This step prevents staggered hatches (which result in the nest being abandoned with eggs in various stages of development once the first chicks have hatched) and also helps protect against situations where the clutch becomes so large that the hen cannot properly incubate her eggs.