How many?

[benji1989]

Our hen is currently sat on 13 eggs (I peaked when she went 4 feed and drinks and counted egg number)I've peaked a few times with her being on the eggs and 3 of the eggs seemed 2 be next 2 her but not right under her then next time she had covered them all.
Just wonder if it's possible for all them 2 have chicks in surly there will be a few dud ones??

 

[Monkeybean415]

There's a good chance that not all will hatch. Ours hatched 5 out of 10

 

[benji1989]

How long was it before you removed the other 5? We don't know 100% how many weeks she's been sat on these. Think this maybe be week 3 coming up now tho so won't belong before any hatch(if we are correct)

 

[torilovessmiles]

My first broody just hatched 7 of 10 babies
One died after pipping, which she then kicked off the nest, and the other two stayed under her until she got up and left them with the chicks were about 3 days old. One was dead in the shell, and the other was a long-dead egg. All eggs had begun to develop. How many eggs are good depends on a lot of factors, including the age of the breeding birds, the breed, and the fertility of both the hens and the roosters.
All the advice I've read is to just leave them, unless a particular egg smells bad, and I tend to agree with in. After she takes her babies off the nest and is finished incubating, just throw them out. She'll give them a couple days before leaving them!

You can try candling the eggs to see how far along they are in development. If there is a little wiggling dot with veins around it, that's late in week one. If you can see a large "C" shaped thing moving around, taking up half or so of the egg, week 2. Almost completely filling the egg, week 3. And egg that looks completely clear, light shining straight through it, is either in the first few days of incubation or it did not develop.
This site was really helpful when I first began hatching. Scroll down the page and there are links to candling pictures of very single day of incubation, super helpful!
Good luck, hope you have a great hatch!!!