Whats the average hatch rate for chicks?

[Hep44]

What is the average success rate of hatching under a broody momma? We just had our second group hatch, the first clutch we had 6 out of 9 survive hatching, this group had 3 out of 9 (she broke 3 of her eggs). Just wondering what is typical?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Depends on genetics, egg perfection, climate perfection, egg age, mothering abilitt, outside disruptions, cleanliness, all sorts if things. I've had some where mama suddenly appears with a dozen chicks and some where mama tries for months and nothing happens.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Under my "young" broody, I have eight eggs under her, and after candling, I think I'm going to get a good hatch of 5-6 chicks.

Out of twelve eggs: 6-8 eggs is average, depending on circumstances of course. Such as,

Fertility:

Good fertility rate rooster to hens:

Small rooster: 1:18
Medium/Average rooster: 1:12
Large rooster: 1:8

And age of broody:

As a hen gets older, the hatch rate goes down. Such as, a young hen will hatch 6-8 eggs out of 12, whereas an older hen might hatch 3-5 eggs out of 12.

I have in some cases have had a 100% hatch rate before. This was under my bantams. I placed 3 Standard-sized eggs under a bantam once, and she hatched all three. On another bantam, I put 5 TSC Silkie eggs under her, and she hatched out all five.

It can really vary from bird to bird, breed to breed. But the biggest things are 1) age of broody, and 2) hens to rooster: fertility.

~Lacy Duckwing

 

[yakitori]

I’ve only done it once and she hatched 6 out of 6. One was a weak hatch and died a few days after hatching.

I also pretty much handled the eggs daily for candling
Those were very healthy eggs from a free range mature flock.

I’m now trying artificial incubation with locally purchased bantam hatching eggs. Only 4 eggs out of 8 were fertile. one had a meat spot and didnt develop, while another quit. Would the broody have done better with the 3 viable eggs... maybe, but they are definitely of a lower hatching quality than the first clutch of 6.

 

[Skyle]

It all depends mainly on the fertility (which can be low for a lot of reasons) and on the broody.
I had 2 broodies this year, but I hatched 26 chicken eggs (19 were from my chickens) with my incubator this year. I'll put the numbers of the eggs set and hatched in the incubator so there is a bigger number to control the fertility of the eggs.

With the incubator the first batch was 9 eggs from my bf's chickens
7 fertile (78%), 7 hatched

The second one was 7 eggs from my chickens, 7 fertile, 7 hatched.

The third one was 14 eggs always from my chickens, 14 fertile, 14 hatched.

Then I hatched some eggs with the broodies.
With the first broody I sneaked 6 eggs which were on day 17 from my bf's incubator (these were his eggs). 5 hatched perfectly fine, one unfortunately pipped on the wrong side, I'm pretty sure that's because of the 15 minutes car ride.
This broody was a perfect mother, was very careful and lovely with the eggs and the chicks. Never heard a whine from these chicks.

With the second broody I sneaked under her 5 fresh eggs from my chickens. All 5 were fertile. She is a disaster as a broody. She broke 2 viable eggs, then crushed and killed a pipped egg. Crushed the last two eggs, too, but they survived and hatched. She is careless with them, they always cryed, poor things.

So, besides the fertility, a good broody can make the difference.