Broody Bantam with 16 eggs

[gabbidoot]

I have a broody bantam that ran off and hid a clutch of 16 eggs. I found her, relocated her & her eggs to the safety of the coop, and she’s settled and sitting on them. I was inclined to just let her do her thing but now I’m worried 16 is far too many eggs for her. Do I remove some? How do I choose what to take away? The eggs are developing for sure, I candled a few quickly during the relocation. Do I presume they just all aren’t going to make it and give her a new batch of eggs from my other hens? I’ve had my share of broodies but never one that ran off on her own accord, ha!

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

I would be very surprised if she can sucessfully hatch all 16 eggs. Even if she manages to cover them all, properly turning them often and regularly will be near impossible. If she were my broody, here is what I would do: Tonight after it is dark, remove each egg and candle every one individually. Re the eggs that are developing, determine which ones look like they are at a similiar stage of development. Give her all the ones back that appear to be at the same stage. If you still think that is too many, you can either select some to return to her tonight and discard the rest, or candle again in 2 days to further assess then. Alternatively, if the eggs are early into incubation, yes you can discard all eggs and give her another clutch tonight to begin again. Since brooding is so hard on mama hens and I like for them to do so for as short a time as possible, I would go with the first choice if you think it's feasible.

Are they her eggs? If so, she can probably realistically incubate a dozen, though 9 or so would be easier for her.

 

[gabbidoot]

I would be very surprised if she can sucessfully hatch all 16 eggs. Even if she manages to cover them all, properly turning them often and regularly will be near impossible. If she were my broody, here is what I would do: Tonight after it is dark, remove each egg and candle every one individually. Re the eggs that are developing, determine which ones look like they are at a similiar stage of development. Give her all the ones back that appear to be at the same stage. If you still think that is too many, you can either select some to return to her tonight and discard the rest, or candle again in 2 days to further assess then. Alternatively, if the eggs are early into incubation, yes you can discard all eggs and give her another clutch tonight to begin again. Since brooding is so hard on mama hens and I like for them to do so for as short a time as possible, I would go with the first choice if you think it's feasible.

Are they her eggs? If so, she can probably realistically incubate a dozen, though 9 or so would be easier for her.

Thank you so much!!! They are all her eggs. I did what you suggested. I reduced the eggs down to 8. In the discard pile there were some that werent developed at all or had stopped developing, or were much less further along. Of the 8 that I let her keep I could see movement on most of them!! There were 2-3 that were very full and dark, I couldnt tell if they were almost about to hatch or bad. I let her keep them and if they havent hatched in the next 3-4 days I will pull them.

I appreciate the advice, it was exactly what I was looking for!

 

[gabbidoot]

I wanted to let everyone know I candled them, and let her keep the 8 that were similarly developing and discarded the rest. Today she successfully hatched all 8! Thank you for your advice! Fingers crossed there’s more pullets than roos