Can my Silkie hatch purchased eggs?

[sbelmont2]

I am new to raising chickens. I have a very broody chicken and wondered: If I buy fertilized eggs and place them under her, can she successfully hatch them?

 

[Ridgerunner]

She certainly can. She can even hatch turkey or peahen eggs if you want her to.

A few things to consider. A Silkie is probably a bantam. Eggs come in different sizes. A broody hen needs to be able to comfortably cover all the eggs she has. If she can't cover them all you usually don't get a good hatch. So you may be limited to how many eggs can fit under her. The other point with this is that the chicks grow pretty fast after they hatch. Even in Colorado it's getting late enough in the year that it isn't as important as in cold weather but she needs to be able to cover all the chicks, at least for the first few days. So don't put too many eggs under her.

The other issue is that the eggs can be shaken when shipped, you don't always get a great hatch rate. I once hatched 5 out of 5 turkey eggs that had been mailed so you never know. I also hatched 1 out of 6 another time. I don't know where you are getting fertile eggs but try to make sure the eggs are fairly fresh and not shaken if you have any control over that.

 

[chickens really]

I am new to raising chickens. I have a very broody chicken and wondered: If I buy fertilized eggs and place them under her, can she successfully hatch them?

Yes she definitely can...

 

[pointsalamander]

I bought mine some. She is currently only being successful sitting on 2 eggs... I only gave her 3. But that poor 3rd egg... it just wasn't meant to be.

 

[sbelmont2]

She certainly can. She can even hatch turkey or peahen eggs if you want her to.

A few things to consider. A Silkie is probably a bantam. Eggs come in different sizes. A broody hen needs to be able to comfortably cover all the eggs she has. If she can't cover them all you usually don't get a good hatch. So you may be limited to how many eggs can fit under her. The other point with this is that the chicks grow pretty fast after they hatch. Even in Colorado it's getting late enough in the year that it isn't as important as in cold weather but she needs to be able to cover all the chicks, at least for the first few days. So don't put too many eggs under her.

The other issue is that the eggs can be shaken when shipped, you don't always get a great hatch rate. I once hatched 5 out of 5 turkey eggs that had been mailed so you never know. I also hatched 1 out of 6 another time. I don't know where you are getting fertile eggs but try to make sure the eggs are fairly fresh and not shaken if you have any control over that.

Thank you so much! This is very helpful.

 

[crazy4ChickensNducks]

Why not?