  We prepare number stabilized ultracold clouds through the real-time analysis
of non-destructive images and the application of feedback. In our experiments,
the atom number ${N\sim10^6}$ is determined by high precision Faraday imaging
with uncertainty $\Delta_N$ below the shot noise level, i.e., $\Delta_N
<\sqrt{N}$. Based on this measurement, feedback is applied to reduce the atom
number to a user-defined target, whereupon a second imaging series probes the
number stabilized cloud. By this method, we show that the atom number in
ultracold clouds can be prepared below the shot noise level.
