Broody Hen!!!!!!!!!!!!

[annanicole18]

I have my first broody hen!!! Bantam silkie mix. How many eggs should I let her have? She is only about eight months old and this will be her first try.

 

[chicks4kids]

Awesome!! I don't know about silkie size, but my EE just went broody and she has 13 under her

. I hope someone else can give you an idea....how many is she sittin on now?

 

[Irishrooster]

you could easily put 8-10 my silkie girl took 12 once

 

[annanicole18]

awesome thanks for the replies. I think she currently has 6 so I will give her some more if she doesn't try and eat me. Is it best to just lock her in the dog crate or leave it open for her to go in and out?

 

[chicks4kids]

Is she seperated from the rest of the girls? If you can leave her cage open and yet she is still "caged" in then I wouldn't see why that would be a problem...however, if she is in your house and her cage is left open, she could poo anywhere. If she is in the coop with the rest of the girls, someone else might try to set on her eggs or lay eggs in there with her.

 

[annanicole18]

well she was hogging my only nest box and cramping the other girls laying styles so she is in a dog crate in my goat shed outside the goat stalls. I am not sure if i should let her roam or not because she rambled into one of the goat stalls and couldn't get out. luckily i was checking on her to make sure she was ok with the move.

 

[ChicknCharm]

Hello! I have two eight month old silkies that are broody, too. I put 7 to 8 australorp eggs under each...these eggs are huge compared to the silkie eggs. I have them in seperate cages right where their favorite nest boxes were. I have closed the cages during the day. One comes out each morning for 20 minutes exactly. She is upset in the morning and walking to and fro at the dog crate door. So, I open the door and watch. I do my chores and make sure no one gets in her nest. Even our cat wants in there. Then she comes back after taking a bath, scratching food, and drinking. The other does not want to leave her nest, so her cage is a bit bigger and we bring her food and water. The broody hens love to get strings off of a cheese stick...they munch a string up like a noodle. We are only on day two for one and day three for the other.