Newbie with Broody Day 2

[CayuseRanch]

So the subject pretty much says it all. I am new to chickens (about 3 months now), have my first broody and set eggs under her tonight! Would love to have a hatching buddy or two as well as some experienced hatcher's and people who use broody to keep me in line! Here is my girl. She is a 2 year old cochin and I put 18 eggs under her tonight. Im not sure if any or all will be fertile, so starting with a lot and will have a look see in 7 days.

 

[Fritatta]

FUN!

You will catch yourself fretting like an old gramma till they hatch. Is mom away from the flock?

 

[CayuseRanch]

Actually no, mom is still in with the flock. I decided not to move her because so I was afraid that the change would make her not broody. Im going to leave her there until the chicks hatch them move them to an area of their own. I think when it comes to hatching time I am going to try and rig a way for the others to not get in there, but as of right now, the others are steering clear of there unless she gets down to eat or drink.

 

[CayuseRanch]

I think I realized the negative of putting 18 eggs in is finding the extra's that the girls are sneaking under her.

 

[elmo]

Two thoughts: mark the eggs that you put under her so you can spot any that get added (you'll need to remove these), since you aren't separating her from the rest of the flock. The other issue is that when a hen sets too many eggs to cover properly, hatch rate can go down. The eggs get moved around and can get insufficiently incubated. I have no idea whether 18 is too much for a hen this size or not...others more experienced with this breed will need to chime in.

 

[CayuseRanch]

I did mark them but she moves them around so I have to find the marked ones and the whole time she is not happy that I have moved her lol. there are some eggs in there that may not be fertile. For instance, my cochins, I do not shave or trim their vent which makes it difficult for the rooster to fertilize, same with the wyandotte, so after day 7 I may be removing some. She is a large standard size cochin. It appears to me (newbie

) that all the eggs are covered. (The box that is is in is 18 inches wide.) When I removed her they all felt pretty warm also, for what that is worth. I actually think I could fit another 4 - 5 in there, but not going to do that! I want to have around 10 viable eggs at day 7 and if 6 or more hatch I will be exstatic.