First Hatch!

[Pineywoods Peepers]

So I had some broody Silkie pullets, and I put 4 eggs under two of them a few weeks ago. When I went out today I noticed that one of the hens had moved her nest a few feet away from the original spot. Then I saw a cracked egg shell in the pen. I checked under her and saw two little chicks! I checked the other girl and there was one chick under her!

One of the proud mamas! She was not very happy about me poking around under her.

Now I have a question... How long should I wait until I pull any unhatched eggs out from under them?

Thanks!

 

[cmom]

I am interested too. I Never have any go broody when I have eggs to hatch or they don't stay broody so I just put them in the incubator.

 

[Pineywoods Peepers]

Well, I bought a straight run of 6 Silkies back in July. I was hoping to get at least 2 pullets so I could put eggs under them to hatch. My straight run of 6 ended up being all pullets! And 4 of them went broody within the same week and a half time span. I wasn't ready to hatch any eggs, but the girls insisted, so I put some of my mixed breed eggs under them just to see what kind of mamas they would be. So far so good. I hope at least one more hatches out so I don't have to have a singleton chick.

 

[KazAnder Farms]

Oh thats fun, We had a few Buff Brahma Bantams that would go broody frequently. When we let them try to hatch out some, they hatched out 2 the first day, and 1 per day for the next...4 or so days. we gave them 3 days after that, candled the remaining ones. It was a good system for us at the time. We were thinking about 2 days but gave em one extra just to be sure.

 

[kulangi]

Very cute! I wish I could find some fertile eggs close to my area. One of my hens is broody.

 

[cmom]

I have had some of my hens go broody but they don't stay broody. What gives???

 

[Pineywoods Peepers]

What kind of hens do you have, cmom.

 

[cmom]

Quote:
RIR and Isa Browns. I know they are not breeds that are prone to broodyness and when they do go broody they will be that way for several days and then one day get off the nest and don't get back on.

 

[Pineywoods Peepers]

Quote:
Bummer. Wonder why they do that? My RIR's have not gone broody yet, but they're only 7 months old.

So far only 4 eggs have hatched. I'm gonna wait til tomorrow to pull the other two eggs out from under the girls. I set them all on the same day, so I think they should have all hatched by now if they're gonna??

I figure a 50% hatch rate is not too bad with first time mamas and young cockerels who don't always quite hit their intended target.

 

[Pineywoods Peepers]

Quote:
Well maybe I should wait a little longer then....