Depends on the broody and her size and the size of the eggs and breed of chicks that will hatch. It also depends upon how large the chicks will grow and the expected weather conditions. (You don't want a small banty trying to cover 6 or 7 large fowl chicks that will quickly outgrow her in cold weather.)
I would not give a first time, never been used before broody hen expensive shipped eggs because you do not know if she will stay the course or what kind of mother she will be. Once she has proven a good broody and mother, I would definitely give her expensive shipped eggs keeping in mind how many she can cover well and what her hatch rate has been.
I would not expect my faithful banty Silkie to attempt to hatch more than 5 or 6 large fowl eggs, especially in colder weather...typically I run at a 66% hatch rate for large fowl with her as I don't think she covers a lot of eggs well...she does better with 4 regular size eggs...I just set only 3 Rhodebar eggs with her as they were extra, extra large.
So know your hen and how many she can cover and what her hatching record is like, how fast those chicks will outgrow her if large size, then plan accordingly.
Typically, broody hens do a better job at hatching than do incubators, being rated at 80 to 100% efficiency. Typical incubators are rated at 50% efficiency, unless you have the expensive top of the line kind of incubator which would be nearly 100%.
Shipped eggs typically produce a 50% hatch rate, so it will naturally be lower than if you got fresh eggs from your fertile hens.
Large fowl hens can typically cover 12 eggs well; banties about 6 large fowl at most and of course could cover more eggs if banty size.
HTH
Lady of McCamley
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