Mother hen...

[chicken95]

Hi I have a broody who is sat on 16 eggs. It’s her first time going broody (she’s only young). She is on day 9 of sitting and just wondering would you both candling the eggs and risk putting her off broody or would you leave her the whole 21 days and find out then. I’m just conscious if one of the eggs isn’t fertile and explodes underneath her

 

[azygous]

Sixteen eggs is an awful high number for most hens to cover effectively unless she's a large breed, and even then, it's a lot. I would be inclined to candle and select no more than a dozen for her to sit on.

You can do it without disturbing her too much. Slide one at a time out from under her and mark it with a pencil after you determine it's got a developing embryo. Set the fertile eggs aside and toss out the unfertile eggs, then return the fertile eggs to the broody who will then arrange them back underneath herself.