1st time broody aurcana & shipped eggs

[TigerLand]

Ok, I ordered 24 fertile eggs to hatch in my incubator. 2 days after I ordered eggs I found one of my young aurcana hens is broody for the first time.. full blown broody. Haven't seen her off the nest in 2 1/2 days.. she seems very into it and in a trance.. the eggs will be here after she has been sitting for approximately 4days...I know the broody cycle usually lasts 21-23days depending.. Will it be safe to put the eggs under her since she has been sitting on ceramic eggs already for 4 days? Will she she get off the eggs 4 days shy of hatch day? I know 1st time broody hens are a risky way to hatch eggs but assuming she goes the distance, is it too late to place eggs under her? I have the bator ready and stabilized just in case.. I'll have to have at least half the eggs I purchased in the bator anyways. Thank you, Trent

 

[Percheron chick]

I would leave her alone. You paid good money for the eggs. Put them in the incubator. You would hate for her to give up half way through. Mine are best at quitting when I'm not home and the eggs are cold by the time I find out. Either hatch them in the incubator and slip some under her at night or give her some eggs as they are ready to hatch.
An extra week is nothing for a good broody hen. The hatched chicks tell her its time to get off the nest not the calendar.

 

[TigerLand]

Honestly, I've only used my incubator a few times.. I've hatched out chicks but the humidity levels get me every time at the end.. I planned to put paper towel or cloth in the reservoir at lockdown to help with wicking moisture and keeping humidity high..I really trust this broody hen more than my incubating skills..I've learned aurcana are excellent broodies.

 

[Percheron chick]

She can only cover 10-12 eggs. What are you going to do with the rest?

 

[TigerLand]

Get more practice with my incubator, which was the plan from the go. I've been doing research until my head hurts on incubating eggs.. I have incubated eggs successfully but when I get to lockdown things go down hill..after researching I believe 2 things are happening.. I've noticed chicks will pip out of the shell, but go no further.. 1) is i keep humidity 40%-65% within the incubator until lockdown and then I raise it to 70%-80% the last 3-4 days.. I've learned that too much humidity will prevent moisture from leaving the shell and the chick will be too big to position itself to pip out..
2) humidity is hard to keep constant in my incubator, I've had shrink wrap problems...
Nothing is worse than having 22 out of 24 eggs fertile and make it all the way to hatch day and fail... Maybe I should give it a go, I just figured I would have a better chance of putting at least half the eggs under a broody hen since their being shipped and chances are already slim.

 

[Ducks4us]

We put fertile eggs under a broody hen about 4-5 days after she went broody.
She stayed and hatched them all just fine.
If it was me, i would give her 8-10 to hatch. And then incubate the rest

 

[TigerLand]

I appreciate all the advice. Anyone have anything about my incubating problems? Should I dry incubate until lockdown? And then add some cloth to the reservoir to hold moisture better, help wick it slowly? I've read this is a common practice sorta like having a sponge. The relative humidity in my home is constant 45-52%.. so a forced sir incubator should be drawing in air outside of the incubator as well as the humidity.. once I get to lock down fog the windows?