Will a broody hen notice if I add young chicks with her slightly older ones?

[bobbi-j]

OP, I'm not sure where you're located, but if it's in a colder climate there could be problems giving her so many eggs. She will be rotating them around, and may not be able to adequately cover them all. This could lead to the eggs dying after they start to develop. I agree that you should candle about a week in, and remove any that aren't developing.

It may work to graft the incubator chicks onto her if they're not more than a day or two behind the others. More than that, and I'm afraid it won't be as successful.

 

[jay873]

She can cover them all and they are small eggs from polish sized chickens so she can cover all of them and I've candled all of them and token out the bad ones there was only 1 that was a dud and I live in north Carolina we get cold shots but it's usually in the 50s in the day and 30s at night

but man I almost lost her last night a raccoon Got inside the coop last night right above her if I hadn't of been taking out the trash and heard her squak she would of Been a goner buy I've fixed where they got in and killed the one that did and trapped another

 

[centrarchid]

Larger clutches can incubate successfully if they nest lining is well insulated and hen can feed up rapidly when coming off nest each day.