Broody silkie and it’s cold outside!

[Lyndzie]

Hi friends.

One of my silkies decided to sit on a couple eggs. Did she not realize that it is a bit cold out? Was the snow not a good indicator that she should wait a while?

Anyways, do to 2020 being, well, tough, I am divorcing and not at the house while we work out details. My plan is to bring her with her eggs to stay in the garage here where I am so can keep an eye on them (because the babies won’t be able to navigate the coop ramp for a while, and I won’t be there to help them out).

My plan is to use a large crate with pine shavings for housing. A cardboard box for the nest box. I’ve hatched eggs with broodies before, but they always just stayed with the flock in the coop with minimal intervention from me, and all went well. Anyone who has done this before, any tips for tricks?

 

[gardengal32]

Hi friends.

One of my silkies decided to sit on a couple eggs. Did she not realize that it is a bit cold out? Was the snow not a good indicator that she should wait a while?

Anyways, do to 2020 being, well, tough, I am divorcing and not at the house while we work out details. My plan is to bring her with her eggs to stay in the garage here where I am so can keep an eye on them (because the babies won’t be able to navigate the coop ramp for a while, and I won’t be there to help them out).

My plan is to use a large crate with pine shavings for housing. A cardboard box for the nest box. I’ve hatched eggs with broodies before, but they always just stayed with the flock in the coop with minimal intervention from me, and all went well. Anyone who has done this before, any tips for tricks?

Hi! We just finished dealing with a similar situation. Our Silkie Bantam started sitting on eggs around Thanksgiving Day. Last week, the eggs started pipping and were scheduled to hatch as a frost was forecasted. So, we brought Mama and pipping eggs in so she can finish hatching them out. Well, she quit on us. Didn’t like the new environment. We didnt want the babies to hatch in the freezing cold, so we put Mama back in the coop and took over the eggs. We hatched two healthy babies Friday with a heat lamp, wet towel (for humidity), a temp/humidity gage and lots of prayer.
So my advice is to definitely try and move her into a warmer area. If she happens to give up, you can do what I did. I learned how from the forums on here and it worked great!

 

[Lyndzie]

Thanks for that. I’ll get an incubator lined up just in case.

 

[gardengal32]

Thanks for that. I’ll get an incubator lined up just in case.

You’re welcome!