Broody Silkie then another - split eggs, is that ok?

[BlossomSilkies]

My partridge girl went broody but didn't have eggs, so I gave her 5 of my white silkie's eggs. That started on 11/15. This past weekend my white silkie went broody and so I took a couple of the later eggs from the partridge, and gave them to the white, so she has a couple of her own eggs to set on. So the partridge has 3 of the 5 and the white has 2 of the 5. The partridge didn't seem to mind and the white is very happy to have the 2 she has. I was sure to let the partridge keep 2 that I can see chicks in, not sure what's happening with egg 3, 4 and 5.

See what happens when I stay home from work?

 

[blkpoodles]

haha my blue silkie is in broody and she has a crap load of eggs, its like she gets more and more every time i look, im like dang that's alot of eggs and some of them are large eggs. i've been wanting to candle them but i have no dark places and at night she wont budge from sitting on them and she nips and hisses lol. also since she keeps getting more idk which ones are which. oh well lol

 

[Karrie13]

I have done that too with two broody silkie hens. They both ended up hatching chicks and raised them together without any problems. They took turns sitting on the eggs, when one got up to eat or drink the other would take the eggs and roll them under her. It should be fine!

 

[BlossomSilkies]

I was hoping they would raise their chicks together. We shall see. They are both very dedicated broodies.

 

[jktrahan]

Broodies are the best. I believe every backyard flock should have at least 1 broody hen. My youngest son and my grandson's eyes light up when hey see our broody hens even walk by a clutch of eggs.

 

[suebee]

Quote:
Here's some great advice below on your situation from http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Broody-Hens-1.html

Add the eggs to be hatched all in one clutch. Do not add eggs from day to day as you collect them, and do not add any more after you set the hen. The germ cell of a fertile egg is ready to develop into a chick, but it does not begin to do so until the hen sits on it—that is, maintains constant temperature and humidity at a level sufficient to trigger growth of the embryo. Thus it doesn’t matter if the eggs you set were collected on different days: All the embryos begin to grow at the same time, and they will all hatch on the same day. If you add more eggs after the hen starts incubating the clutch, however, the development of embryos in the new eggs lags behind that of the first eggs, and hatching cannot occur all on the same day—a disaster.