Why is my chicken behaving like this

[aart]

yes, I can set up another maternity ward. I have tried candling some of the eggs and some do not look that promising to be honest but I would buy her some day-old chicks if I can because she is constantly broody so I think it would be terrible for her to sit so long with nothing to show for it. But if the other goes broody I would set her up with eggs. I have discovered an additional problem today and that is one or more of the hens is eating the laid unfertilized eggs, so I need to get to the bottom of that too. Honestly, I have four hens, when I had fourteen I had fewer problems lol.

OhBoy! Sometimes I think that more birds are easier than just a few!
Better get those broodies their own places and some fertile eggs,
get your numbers up again

 

[Humble Shack Farm]

I have also experienced this behavior with some of my Silkie hens. In specific, I had a pair that would go broody like clockwork, and always do it together. They shared a nest, swapped eggs frequently, and once the chicks were hatched, they had two mothers who shared the responsibility of looking after them. Silkies are especially broody, and it was super sweet to see these two hens go broody together multiple times.
There is something to "the nest" suggestion. Despite having four of the same nest boxes with the same nesting materials in them, every one of my hens will either wait their turn, share the nest with another hen, or even fight over whose turn it is in just one nest box! So if your broody hen is set up in the "favorite" nest box, it is unlikely that the other hens will leave the nest alone.
Hope you have a successful hatch!

 

[LeggyLeghorn]

At 10 days candling them should tell the tale...have you been removing any new ones laid in the nest?

At 10 days candling them should tell the tale...have you been removing any new ones laid in the nest?

no i have not been bothering with her or the eggs. am letting nature do its thing. i am not too pushed to know if the eggs are fertile. i am assuming however, given her/s reaction anytime i go near her that they are fertile. feathers rise, the pre-historic growl and the stink eye. i just back off.

this is a polish/silkie cross.

 

[aart]

i am assuming however, given her/s reaction anytime i go near her that they are fertile.

A broody hen will do that sitting on nothing...she doesn't know if eggs are fertile or not.

IMO it's good to check the eggs for development, check for 'stinkers' that might explode, remove newly laid eggs to avoid staggered hatching, and get the bird used to handling in case there's a problem(like the chick that was tangled with mama breast feathers tightly around it's neck and would have probably died if I hadn't got it loose).