Broody hen questions...

18 eggs sounds a little much to me. I would remove some, but you can also just see how she does. I would wait till at least day 7 to candle, the huck the bad ones.

Make sure she has food and water close by.

 

Whenever you candle them on day 7 and the egg has no sign of growth, that's a pretty big indicator that it's a 'bad' egg.

Meat and blood spots also make a bad egg.

A lot of people wait until day 14 to throw out bad eggs, or sometimes later. But it sounds like you may want to throw out any clear ones earlier than that, if some are under her wing.

http://lancaster.unl.edu/4h/Embryology/candling.shtml
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=119420

 

My littlest hen went broody first. but within a week 3 more followed so the stack of eggs plus more eggs got divided up among them.

I have 6 different breeds and pheasant eggs they are sitting on.

I never bothered candeling.

They move the eggs around from inside the circle to outside the circle heating them evenly, its very cool to watch.

My First Baby chick hatched today. A GLW/Partridge-Cochin. The rest should be hatching within the next week or two.

I found the baby chick on the floor of the coop I guesing she got pushed out or fell out of the nest box.

She/He is doing great I quickly got the brooder ready. Now were just waiting on company for him/her.

 

That sounds like a lot of eggs for any hen to brood, but who knows? She may surprise us and get them all to hatch. And if not, then you'll know better how many she can handle the next time she goes broody.

I don't like to bother a broody with handling or candling her eggs, I just let them all alone and wait until she takes her hatched chicks out for their first outing. Sometimes a hen will push out extra or unwanted eggs, sometimes it's because somehow she knows they're duds.

I also don't like to disrupt a broody by taking her off her nest to eat/drink/poop. I think you can trust them to follow their instincts, to know just when to take their breaks and how long to time them. As long as food & water is easily available to them, they will find it when they need it.

Congratulations & best wishes to your broody & you. Let us know what happens in 18 days!

 

You can sprinkle DE or sevin dust. I just picked up a bottle of Poultry Protector from farm&fleet not sure if it works.