Broody vs the Bator

I gave my broody hen the eggs I most wanted to hatch. I know that can be risky with first time broodies, but she seemed very committed, I already had her moved and settled in her new location and she still hadn't moved. I was more worried about her own health as I didn't see her eat/poop/drink for the first week. Then I saw signs of life, food missing from her dish, and it was all good.

The same day, I set the rest of my eggs in the bator. Bator temps were good, i did a dry hatch this time so kept humidity lower than last time, as it was way to high last time and I had problems with yolk sacs. Other then messing up my lockdown date and inverting a 6 and 9, and with that mistake delaying lockdown by only about 1/2 a day (I realized it on the evening of the 16th when I heard egg chirping as I was turning the eggs and recounted my days). But in a short after discovering the chirper, I had them locked down and humidity up.

In theory, the eggs should be all hatching at the same time, the broody and the bator. Day 21 is the 19th. 17th is today, and one bator chick hatched already with atleast another 5 or so pipped that I can see. I don't hear any chirping under mom, but it is still 2 days early. And I don't dare peek under mom as she's pretty protective over those eggs and I've had a number of hard pecks already.

I'm really curious to see how this turns out, and how the numbers compare. So far the bator is winning, but it's not a win I'm so happy about as they are definitely early, I did write down the day I set the eggs correctly and know they were all set the same day.

I temperature that is a little high can encourage an early hatch, so can eggs that are a little smaller because they hit the right temp earlier than the bigger eggs.
Good luck with the hatch.

Today is day 21 for both the broody and the bator.

15 hatched from the bator, with one on day 18 (peeping before locked down), 5 on day 19, 8 on day 20 and 2 today. No pips in any remaining eggs, but you never know. Most are barnies, a couple of wyandotte x wellies for eating and egg layers, one BLRW, and one 3/4 black copper maran x americauna, hoping it's a girl to get some nice dark green eggs. The only troubles were some hatched upside down, one I had to flip his egg as I could see violent movements of the egg and then realized he was trying to hatch on his head. I leave them in cartons for hatching, but my lockdown was a tad late (brain function error) so some were not positioned right. Dry hatch, no problems with membranes, large air spaces prior to hatching and big robust chicks.

Broody hen is only just starting to hatch today. I tried peeking, and I only peeked as I didn't hear a thing and wasn't sure if she was hatching, and there is for sure one wet baby and 5 pips, but I"m just going to leave her be now till she leaves the nest. The first baby is a barny, I could see the shell which said b for barny. Yeah, love barny babies.

Broody is such a good mom, already talking away to the baby. She has been a messy broody, and has pooped at the edge of the nest a number of times but the eggs all look clean so I guess that's what matters. And even more protective, there is no reaching in there without a glove. I can't wait to see the final tally.