What about this hatching plan?

[racuda]

I have 16+ Silkie eggs coming today. So that will probably be around 18 eggs.

I really like broody hens hatching my eggs and I have one waiting, but she can only handle about 9 eggs.

What if I give her 9 eggs, and put the other 9 in the bator?

My last two batches of shipped eggs yielded a 50% hatch each time, so after 10 days I can discard the clears and be left with 9 good eggs. I will take the good ones from the bator and combine them with the developing eggs under the broody and let her hatch all of them. She will do a much better job of raising them than I could.

Of course if I have a 80% - 90% hatch, this won't work, but I could give the just-hatched bator chicks to the hen to raise with hers.

What do you think?

 

[redroosta]

9 with her, 9 in bator. I think you will mostly get 10 or 12 chicks from this hatch if the eggs are in good condition. if the eggs are all fertile and in good condition you could get a 100% hatch rate with the broody. with the bator, maybe 4 or 5 in good condition. so you decide what you're gonna do.

 

[CindyS]

If I were you I would candle all eggs to see if they are scrambled or not, probably some are. You might only have 9 or so good ones.