Chicken Breed Focus - Silkie

[Sylvester017]

I have three hens one of the ladys have just started to lay eggs, I want to try and hatch them. If she don't go broody, do you think my silkie will take over sitting on her Eggs?

Most bantam breeds are broody types. However, the bantam needs to be in a broody "mood" to set eggs. You have a rooster with your 3 hens to fertilize the hens' eggs?

 

[Sylvester017]

@Sandiemouse If your bantam doesn't go broody to hatch eggs, you can always invest in a small incubator -- I believe they have incubators that hatch as few as 3 to 6 eggs at a time. But not all eggs are fertile and you would need to candle the incubator eggs to know if they are duds or good. There are other BYC threads that deal with hatching, candling, etc. I don't hatch because I don't have an outlet for unwanted cockerels.

 

[Sylvester017]

That's what I've been told.....what do you think?

Can you post more pics of Sunshine? She's so cute but I can't tell what she looks like from the small pic of her.

 

[scrambled please]

I have three hens one of the ladys have just started to lay eggs, I want to try and hatch them. If she don't go broody, do you think my silkie will take over sitting on her Eggs?

My little silkie did.

 

[Sandiemouse]

Can you post more pics of Sunshine? She's so cute but I can't tell what she looks like from the small pic of her.

Sunshine had went broody about 2 months ago and she has not started laying eggs yet. Is this normal? She won't even give CoJack the time of day, for that matter neither of my girls won't let CoJack touch them.. HELP !!!!

 

[Sylvester017]

Silkies have their own time schedule -- when you don't want them to go broody, they don't stop sitting on everybody's eggs -- when you WANT them to start laying eggs they decide to take a break! Mother Nature knows best. It's a bit too cold for most hens to be in a laying/breeding mood during winter. Spring is a better time for hatching baby chicks.

 

[Sandiemouse]

That makes sense. My girls are just doing their thing. Miss Betty is the only one laying eggs. Winter is about to get busy. Cold nights still kinda warm during the day, staying around 50 to 60. Thanks for the response.

 

[Sandiemouse]

Most bantam breeds are broody types. However, the bantam needs to be in a broody "mood" to set eggs. You have a rooster with your 3 hens to fertilize the hens' eggs?

I have 3 hens Miss Betty, Snow and Sunshine with 2 roos CoJack and Red

 

[Sylvester017]

I have 3 hens Miss Betty, Snow and Sunshine with 2 roos CoJack and Red

JMHO but 2 roos and only 3 hens is going to wear out the hens when mating season rolls around or the 2 roos may even start sparring & hurting each other for mating rights over so few hens. You're probably attached to your roos and don't want to get rid of one, so add at least a couple more hens to the mix or re-home one of the roos. 2 roos w/ only 3 hens is too many roos. Mating season and hormones can make normally sweet birds go a little crazy sometimes.

 

[Sandiemouse]

Im going to add more hens come this spring... Red was suppose to be a hen...lol