keeping eggs from broody hen

[MissQ]

I got a broody Orpington hen early this year with a dozen fertile eggs, 7 hatched, 1 died, of the remaining 6 eggs 4 were roosters,...just my luck.
So a little while ago those 3 and my barred rock hen FINALLY started laying and Mother Superior went broody again, hatching should be any day now, although I'm expecting not much at all, 2 eggs broke and another I took out by accident, which kind of brings me to my question: she's sitting in a reasonably cosy nesting box with a partition.I find anything from 0 to 3 eggs in the empty nesting box next to her, so some days she assimilates the fresh eggs into her little pile. Me being me, I can't contain myself and lift her up most days and take the unmarked = fresh eggs out (I made a pencil cross on the ones she was sitting on initially, but they've rubbed off by now anyway). What's a good way to prevent her from adding new eggs to hers daily. I have a pretty small set up and can't really keep her completely separate from everyone else.

Also, should any of them hatch, doe anyone have any idea how to sex Orpington/Barred Rock chicks?

Thank you

[Marina]

It's difficult to keep a broody hen from adding eggs to her nest. Maybe the other hens even lay in her nest.

I think you are doing the best you can do under the circumstances, marking the eggs she's sitting on and taking freshly laid eggs away daily.

As to sexing the chicks: If the father is a Black Orpington and the mother is a Barred Rock you can sex the chicks at hatching. All cockerels will have a yellow dot on their head, the pullets have no yellow dot. If the father is a Barred Rock and the mother a Black Orpington all chicks will have a yellow dot on their head so they can't be sexed at hatching. You'll have to wait until they are 5 to 6 weeks old and the wattles of the cockerels grow bigger than the pullets' wattles.