Broody Silkie- I need your help!

[lclough1998]

Okay, so I have 1 Silkie roo and 2 silkie hens, one hen has gone broody. We collect eggs every day, so we left the two she was sitting on, hers and the other hens. Then I read one of the post on a forum that said she should be moved so I moved her box into a crate, now today she layed another egg, is it fertile if I took her away from the rooster? I can let the rooster in where she is, her crate is just in the next fenced area, he can get back and forth, but I have it blocked off . I have no idea how that all works, do they need to mate every day to have a fertile egg that day? Should I have left her where she was? I want as many eggs/chicks as they can give me, if she gives one egg most days, will it take days for them to all hatch? Help! THanks so much, appreciate your thoughts and knowledge!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=314818
see post #2

I have read that it can last up to one month on BYC, but a couple of weeks is a more typical answer. No, they don't have to mate every day for the eggs to be fertile, in other words.

 

[melloladies]

Quote:
hello! and

I just learned that a hen can lay fertile eggs for up to two weeks after "being with a rooster"...so your egg from today should be fertile. She'll stop laying if she is serious about setting. You should give her some golf balls to set on for a few days while you collect a clutch of eggs from the other hen and take the three eggs she's on now out from under her. You need to put all the eggs under her at once so that they hatch around the same time- otherwise- you'll have eggs that take days longer to hatch and momma will abandon those eggs to take care of chicks that have already hatched.

Hope that helps! Good luck!

 

[lclough1998]

so how do I hold back the eggs, What if I take a sharpie and mark the three and I should have about 6 eggs in about 4 days, they have been almost daily. then take away whatever she lays fresh after like monday, then they would only be a 4 day window of eggs? She seems really earnest in setting on them now, and my girls will be crushed if we take away the ones she has been sitting on since yesterday. We are new at this so dont know what we are doing, just know that she must be broody, nicer of the two hens and now she is grumpy gustophina!

 

[lclough1998]

and do you mean for me to toss the eggs that she has been setting on, the 3 she has now?

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
http://chickscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/explore/embryology/
Here is a website if you are interested to see how far along the eggs are that she has been sitting on...just click on the day you are interested in.

If you are sure she is broody, you could just let her keep setting on those eggs if you want.

Make sure that she has food and water available to her so that she doesn't have to arise from the nest at all once the first chick hatches. She should be able to reach out her neck and peck the food and drink the water when the babies arrive.

The reason I say this is that she won't leave the nest to show the new chicks how to eat and drink enough, from my experience, unless the food and water is RIGHT there.

And from what it sounds like, you might have a staggered hatch so that there will be hatching over several days. She will be ok if she has access to food and water. She might keep setting on all the unhatched eggs.

I have only dealt with two broody hens, and only let one hatch out eggs. So my experience is limited.

I hope the other poster comes back! I just thought I would give my 2 cents' worth.

 

[melloladies]

Your hen who you say is broody- is she still laying every day? If she is- she may not be as broody as you think. I've had 5 attempts at "brooding" here at my house- each time the hen stopped laying within two days of sitting on the nest. I only recently let my stubborn broody hatch a small clutch of eggs. So... I'm certainley not an expert. Chickensaresweet mentioned that you'll have a staggered hatch- that is what happened when all the eggs start developing at different times. It just makes it a bit more difficult for momma- which is why moving the food and water close is a good idea. I'm not suggesting you throw out the three eggs you have- I guess I wasn't thinking that she had been constantly on the nest with them for a few days already...so...I guess what I'm saying is I would not just add a new egg every day as it is layed. I would hold back until you had "enough" (however many you want to give her) and then add all the others at once. Other wise you'll have a chick hatching everyday for a week.
Keep us updated- pictures too!

 

[hennypenny99]

Oh no! Don't use a Sharpie!!! Use a pencil. If you are going to mark your eggs be sure to use something safe and I would think a sharpie could hurt the embryo. I am not sure what all you can use to write on eggs but I know a pencil is safe. Back away from the sharpie!

Good Luck, Silkies are soooo sweet.

 

[lclough1998]

Thanks, you guys. I should have been reading this forum a long time ago. Wasnt ready for broody silkie but she is still setting on 6 eggs, 3 from her and 3 from the other silkie. She has not layed any eggs in a couple days. I am going to leave her set, we are offering and she is taking some good organic food and some chick scratch that are in little cups near her head. I will keep you posted and let you know if eggs hatch, I am trying to be optimistic that we will get some babies just about Memorial day if its 21 days. I will try to get a picture of her but I am not very good at getting them on the computer. Thanks again for your words of wisdom. I must say these silkies are very sweet birds, even Joe the rooster is nice, although they are only around 11 months old I think, we just got them on April 9th. Careless is the name of the setting hen, the girls named her that because she could care less about being caught and held, Josephine is the other hen, cause she follows Joe around.