Adding chicks to broody

[jaywin]

Hi
I have a broody on 8 eggs but only 4 have chicks in them. I plan to sneak some more day olds under her as her clutch starts to hatch. Should I leave all eight eggs in so she accepts the ones I put under her or am I over estimating her ability to count. As in I only had four eggs so where have 8 chicks come from!

 

[sourland]

I would remove the non developing eggs. People are better at 'chicken math' than chickens are.

 

[jaywin]

Hi thank you.
will do. I also have someone who has eggs at the same stage as mine so I’m going to put some under her and they will all hatch at the same time. I think this will be less risk than adding chicks. Fingers crossed - mainly that hubby doesn’t remember how many chicks I said we had in the eggs as I keep saying I have enough, but I never have enough!!

 

[ChicKittyHouse]

I had 2 hens that were broody on a total of 9 eggs that were duds. I successfully put 15 chicks under the 2 of them that I hatched in the incubator. They are NOT good with math! Thankfully..... I'll be doing the same in a week with 2 more hens. Hopefully they do as well as these two.