What is the average of eggs that hatch?

[Woodcox Acre]

What is the average of eggs that you have either had a broody hen sit on and hatch or even incubated that have hatched?
My hen set on 13 eggs and after breaking some as she moved around, and some that actualy hatched and died and two eggs
that just did not hatch for one reason or another. We ended up with only four chicks. I was a bit disappointed, yet thrilled with the four. There so cute. Every egg was firtle, even the two that did not hatch had a full term chick inside. Tell me your stories and experience's

 

[Madam Hens]

Broody Silkie hen hatches six Rhode Island egg chicks out six eggs. Two got stuck in their shells and I assisted getting them out. I'm partial to broody bantam hens. They are not a heavy bird and their mothering instincts are top notch.

 

[yinepu]

I've had broodys hatch out 0 .. and have also had them hatch out most of their eggs.. all depends on the hen and how good of a mother she is (cochins and silkies usually make great moms)
for dependable hatches I prefer an incubator.. i know my bators and can get anywhere from 90 to 100% hatch rates on non-shipped eggs.. shipped egg hatch rates can vary a lot due to handling by the shipper plus fertility or old egg issues from the seller... I can usually expect anywhere from 30 to 75% hatch rate on shipped eggs

i still let broodys sit eggs here and there.. usually i replace their eggs with fake eggs.. incubate the good eggs in the bator then do a switch late at night (freshly hatched chicks for fake eggs) when she's sleepy

 

[Coenobita]

Well, I used an incubator, but I have one rooster over about 17 hens and amazingly, 8 out of 14 eggs developed, and of those eight, six have hatched already..I dropped one of the eggs a while back though, so there is only one more egg that could hatch. It's day 21 for them right now! This is my first hatch and I'm really excited

 

[mkcolls]

Our first broody started with 14 eggs that we placed under her. She rejected 2 early, neither were fertile.

Late in the brood time other hens would slip in and lay while she was off the nest for feeding and pooping. She ended up with 21 eggs. We did not know this until the eggs started hatching.

Eleven of her eggs hatched. One died before completely out of the egg. It appeared normal, fully formed. One died very soon after hatching. Again, appeared normal, fully formed.

Then she became so busy being an active Mama, that she forgot her eggs. Instead of 10-20 mins off the nest, she would spend 10-20 mins on the nest. Three more eggs hatched, one we found dead, normal, perfectly formed. (all three dead chicks were the same breed - but there are 7 more alive of that breed)

We added to them, placing four chicks that hatched from the incubator with Mama, and one turkey poult. She is Mama to 15 chicks and one poult. She would not accept any more chicks. We tried, she pecked them and ran them off.

One of the remaining eggs that Mama still had and sat on occasionally was a turkey egg. After she had her 16 to take care of she killed the last poult to hatch. It was an early morning hatch that we found when we went out that morning. The poult appeared perfectly formed, & normal. We removed the remainder of the eggs and placed them in the incubator. So far four of the remaining eggs have hatched. Two more to go.

Of the eggs that we placed in our incubator one was not fertile and one was damaged, the rest have hatched. A total of 26.

Sorry, we don't have an average. This is our first year. If you check other threads about hatching I think you will find such a range of results that it is difficult to put one number to what happens during a hatch, or from hatch to hatch.

Don't give up. You learn as you go and so do your hens.

 

[Woodcox Acre]

Thanks to those who responded, this was our first hatch, but it was also our hens first hatch. So I guess all in all it wasn't to bad. I was just hoping for more. Our hen is a barred rock. Shes been a good mother. Its so fun to watch her teach them to eat and especially to watch her teach them how to go up the small ramp we have into the coop. she went in and out several times before she got all four in. There instincts are something else. Thank you. I'm ready to start again, ha ha

 

[auto5man]

Just had our first broody experiment. Mama hen is a Buff Orpington, eggs were Cuckoo Marans and we put 12 under her. She rejected one egg right off, they started hatching on Easter! It was awesome. The first to hatch died and was fully formed and out of the egg, I think smothered
Two eggs just didn't hatch the rest did and we have 8 cuckoo marans chicks doing great!

Auto5man

Yes it's AMaZING to watch the instinctive behavior of the hen. First time mother, pullet less than year old but just knew what to do.

Auto5man