Broody hen stealing eggs

[Amber1988]

I have a broody silkie who's been laying on a clutch of eggs for about a week. At the same time my duccle has been laying in another nest. The silkie had 14 eggs and the duccle had 6. Every once in a while the duccle would go lay on her nest I'm thinking to keep them from going bad. As of last night my silkie stole the duccles 6 eggs.since my duccle was sitting on them once in a while threw out the day Is that a sign that I could place her on a nest of eggs to hatch? Was she just waiting to have enough to lay on?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

That seems like too many eggs for a silkie. Any peeking out from under her? Stealing eggs is common among broodies.
You can try her. It's important to put dates on the eggs under them so you can remove newer eggs and they don't abandon growing embryos when the first few hatch.

 

[Cynthia12]

Sounds like what a silkie would do. They love to sit .. on eggs!

Welcome to you, I see that you are new.

 

[Amber1988]

That seems like too many eggs for a silkie. Any peeking out from under her? Stealing eggs is common among broodies.
You can try her. It's important to put dates on the eggs under them so you can remove newer eggs and they don't abandon growing embryos when the first few hatch.[/QUOTE

That seems like too many eggs for a silkie. Any peeking out from under her? Stealing eggs is common among broodies.
You can try her. It's important to put dates on the eggs under them so you can remove newer eggs and they don't abandon growing embryos when the first few hatch.

As of today I've only seen an egg or two peak out once for a quick moment. I checked and she does have 20 eggs under her. My duccle just played another so I dated this one.

 

[Amber1988]

Here's a pic of her on top of her clutch

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I would be very wary of putting that many eggs under a silkie.
If any stick out, they will chill. Each day, she'll turn eggs many times. Any that stick out could chill to the point of killing the embryo. When that continues for 3 weeks, all may become chilled and the whole clutch could be lost.
It sounds like more eggs have been added since she's gone broody.
Any that don't hatch within a couple days of each other will be abandoned so you'll need to be ready to artificially incubate any still viable.

 

[Amber1988]

I would be very wary of putting that many eggs under a silkie.
If any stick out, they will chill. Each day, she'll turn eggs many times. Any that stick out could chill to the point of killing the embryo. When that continues for 3 weeks, all may become chilled and the whole clutch could be lost.
It sounds like more eggs have been added since she's gone broody.
Any that don't hatch within a couple days of each other will be abandoned so you'll need to be ready to artificially incubate any still viable.

I never put any eggs under her. Her and my duccle were laying in the same nest. I left them for the heck of . She ended up broody and has been laying g in the clutch constant for about a week. Last night I went to show my husband my duccles new nest cause she had 6 in it and they were gone!! I looked under my silkie and sure enough there were more eggs. So she must have taken the 6 herself. We have not put a single egg under her

 

[Amber1988]

I never put any eggs under her. Her and my duccle were laying in the same nest. I left them for the heck of . She ended up broody and has been laying g in the clutch constant for about a week. Last night I went to show my husband my duccles new nest cause she had 6 in it and they were gone!! I looked under my silkie and sure enough there were more eggs. So she must have taken the 6 herself. We have not put a single egg under her

What I was asking earlier is if I could remove some and put them all where the duccles nest is and if anyone thinks the duccle will hatch them. The duccle had 6 eggs in her nest. Threw out the day she would sit on them for a short while just like my silkie did before she finally decided to stay on them...then the silkie took them so the duccles down to one egg now