Broody hen not a good momma?

[Shared Acres]

I have a broody silkie, she has been broody for a month. Eggs finally started hatching in the incubator and we gave her the first two babies.

One baby is a day old and is starting to waddle around, etc. When she cries, momma doesn't lift up for baby to crawl under, baby just kind of prods momma like, "lift up for me." (I ended up lifting momma for baby.)

We gave her another chickie that JUST hatched and momma was sitting on her fine and then after an hour turned around and baby wasn't under momma anymore. I found baby not feeling hot and put baby back in incubator (baby is still wet)

What do you think? Will she get the hang of it or should I try to knock her out of her broodiness? If that's even possible at this stage.

 

[winekntrychicks]

Why didn't you let her hatch the eggs herself?

 

[katrinag]

Not letting her hatch the eggs could be a big part of it. You could of taken the eggs out of the bator a couple days before they were to hatch and let her finish them.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

Just because a hen goes broody does not mean she will be a good mother. With a passel of silkies, i know this from personal experience. It's possible that sitting on them for 21 days will make them a better mother once they hatch, but that was not the case with a couple of my hens. They are great at sitting on them, though. i have had the best luck in letting them sit on them until hatch time, then i take them away to finish in the incubator. But that's just because my personal hens have not shown great mothering abilities.

Were it me, i would just keep the chicks inside in a brooder.

 

[Shared Acres]

We don't have a seperate pen for broody hens (hubby supposed to be building one this week) and EVERYONE feels the need to lay in the SAME box.

Even with golf balls, it's like she doesn't notice one isn't up under her completely.

My momma hen, Oprah, also has vision issues in one eye, so I don't know if this is also part of the problem.

I gave her 3 eggs a couple of days ago that are ready to hatch and this morning I found one next to her cold.

That's why we don't give her real eggs.

Edited to add: She does seem to talk to the baby chick and take an interest in it, just doesn't seem to know what to do.

 

[katrinag]

Hens know better than we do when an egg is bad.

It would be she is just not ment to be a broody or a mother.