Broody 'forgot' how to raise chicks!

[MuranoFarms]

I have a broody silkie....going on 3 months now! She's hatched and raised several sets of chicks since last summer. Now however, she acts like she wants to sit in the eggs but doesn't want the babies!

When she first started this time, that set took the regular 3 weeks. She left the nest (i assume to eat) after the first hatched and a duck jumped in to lay her egg, squashing the baby. 1 more hatched, but the broody was not interested in it and kept kicking it out of the nest. I took it into the house. I thought maybe she was waiting for her other baby to come back or something....I don't know how hens think! I started to make sure she got lots of food (delivered to her! lol so she wouldn't get underweight while setting) She stole eggs off the other hens for set 2.

Set 2, I found a baby cold and dead outside the nest first thing in the morning. I took her eggs and gave them to violet (who hatched them successfully)

She stole more eggs for set 3. Set 3 got cold and quit developing but I left them there. I gave her 2 peeping eggs last night from the incubator. 1 hatched, 1 still peeping. she keeps leaving the nest and when I look in, the baby is trying to get warm but she wont let it under her! I brought him in the house, shivering, and he's on the floor of the cabinet bator now warming up.

What the heck is wrong with her?

If she doesn't want babies fine...but she can't keep setting on eggs!

Help!

 

[ralleia]

Are you saying that she's been sitting on three consecutive sets of eggs (i.e. nine weeks???)

I'm trying to understand the timeline...When my hens have been sitting on eggs, when the eggs hatched it took a day (maximum two) of exposure to chicks to transition the hen's instincts from sitting to mothering.

 

[MuranoFarms]

Quote:
Yep! well, maybe 8 weeks. She's not keeping them alive long enough to take a day or 2! UGH

The first set 1 dies, she ignored the second chick. I kept putting it back under her, she kept kicking it out. That's 3 weeks.
The second set she must have kicked out after it hatched during the night....it was outside the nest dead in the morning. That's another 3 weeks.
This third set quit developing and last night I gave her 'lockdown' eggs that were already peeping. She's ignoring the baby. This was 2 more weeks.

Truthfully, the first set I blamed the duck because there was a duck egg in the nest when I went out at 7 am.....but she could have ignored that chick too. It could have died from cold. At least it motivated me to finish the duck door on their house! It was the first time the duck ever used a nest box (she prefers the corner on the floor)

I keep thinking she's going to quit setting but she won't! I've been hand feeding her several times a day for at least a month, cause I don't want hr to get sick. I just don't know what to do with her. I'm gonna have to try the wire bottom cage thing.

The little guy in the incubator took about 10 minutes to quit shivering and crying. He's sleeping now, so hopefully he'll be ok.