Hi. I have two silkies, both 11-months-old, one hen and one roo. My hen has gone broody and has been sitting on her eggs for 2 weeks now & I'm hoping to hatch some chicks naturally. This is my first time owning chickens (& hatching) so I have a number of questions & the only answers I can find don't really apply to my situation. So I'm really hoping, OK begging, for some advice. Can anyone help me? 1. I've read that I need to remove the hen while she's hatching, but that seems to be only when you have lots of chickens. Given I only have 1 hen & 1 roo, do I still need to do this? 2. She is nesting in her nesting box which is upstairs with access by a steep ramp. I'm worried that when the chicks hatch, they will try & follow her down the ramp & break their little legs. Should I lock them upstairs until they are old enough to tackle the ramp? (I'm including a pic of the henhouse so you can see what I mean). 3. My colleague says the chicks won't hatch (or live) because it's too cold. I live in Australia and we're in winter, but everyone on here seems to be from the US and seem to hatch chicks even when it's snowing! It definitely doesn't ever snow where I live and the average nighttime temperature is about 7 degrees Celsius, which I think is about 44 degrees Fahrenheit. Should I be moving the hen & chicks inside until they're older (there's no capacity to install a heat lamp)? Any advice will be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you.
