7 silkies only one broody? First egg hatched 🐣

[SilkieFlo]

So, two questions:

I have 7 Silkie hens in different pens and only one hen has become broody for the moment. She actually hatched her first egg this morning!

1. When will my other silkie hens become broody? They have all been laying eggs for a good 1,5 month / 2 months. I kept collecting all the eggs because I’m waiting on an incubator, but it seems it won’t be here anytime soon. Also, i would love to see the hens raise some babies of their own. Do I need to stop collecting the eggs for them to become broody?

2. My one broody silkie hen has hatched 1 of her first chicks this morning, it’s amazingly cute. But fastforward 10 hours later, no other chicks yet. I will give her till Monday to let the other eggs hatch, but if by then they haven’t hatched I will take them away so she starts to take care of the one chick she already has. Last time I candled them was Sunday I believe and all but one, we’re developed pretty far. So they are viable. Is there anything I can do now to see if the chicks are pipping? How do I handle the eggs? Or is it of the utmost important that I let the eggs be?

Would appreciate any advice!

Photo my first partridge silkie chick!

 

[Obsessed With Silkies]

Congrats on the chick! Right now I would let Mom be because if you did have an incubator this would be like lockdown. As far as wanting your other hens to go broody, you can't exactly make any chicken go broody. You can encourage broodiness by leaving the eggs laid in the nest box. There still are no guarantees it's really up to the hen when she's ready. As far as collecting eggs for the incubator, you'll want to be collecting them within the max of 2 weeks for the eggs to be viable. When you know the incubator is on it's way you might can start collecting eggs. But, for any new incubator you know you have to do what's called a burnout. That's when you run the bathroom for at least a week before you put any eggs in. This helps you get used to all the buttons but really it's to burn out all the chemicals from a brand new item. If you don't do this, it will most likely affect your hatch. Once the burn out is complete, you can start incubating!

 

[SilkieFlo]

Congrats on the chick! Right now I would let Mom be because if you did have an incubator this would be like lockdown. As far as wanting your other hens to go broody, you can't exactly make any chicken go broody. You can encourage broodiness by leaving the eggs laid in the nest box. There still are no guarantees it's really up to the hen when she's ready. As far as collecting eggs for the incubator, you'll want to be collecting them within the max of 2 weeks for the eggs to be viable. When you know the incubator is on it's way you might can start collecting eggs. But, for any new incubator you know you have to do what's called a burnout. That's when you run the bathroom for at least a week before you put any eggs in. This helps you get used to all the buttons but really it's to burn out all the chemicals from a brand new item. If you don't do this, it will most likely affect your hatch. Once the burn out is complete, you can start incubating!

Thank you for your advice!

There are still no other chicks yet, I did see one that was pipped this afternoon. I don’t know about the rest, I don’t want to disturb them.

How long should I let the hen sit on them? It’s now 22 days, we did have a cold spell though, so a late hatch could be possible. I just want to other little chick to learn how to eat and drink in time!

And talking about broodiness, just had another one turn broody!

My partner and a friend are making the incubator theirselfs but their having some difficulty with the programming. But I’ll remember to turn it on for a week without eggs !

 

[gimmie birdies]

I just hatched a silkie/NN

 

[SilkieFlo]

I just hatched a silkie/NN
View attachment 3047038

Aaaw! I’m always afraid these are cold!

 

[SilkieFlo]

Two more have hatched!