First timer with broody silkie

[chickenteacher2]

I've never put eggs under a broody and I hope I won't botch this one up. I just put 4 eggs of various types under my broody silkie. She's been broody for maybe a week and a half - 2 weeks. I hope it's not too late to do that. Advice?

 

[katsdar]

Hi, I'm new to this and I gave my Buff RIR eggs to sit since we ate hers, and she has hatched 2 so far and waiting on 2 more. I was going to try to break her from brooding till someone I work with said just give her some eggs. That was about two weeks before I gave them to her, so poor thing was sitting for a good month and a half. She is such a good mother.

 

[chickenteacher2]

Oh, ok, so they can sit for more than the allotted 23ish days? Good. My silkie mama seems pretty fierce even without eggs, so she's going to be a good mama, I hope. Hopefully these eggs are fertile. I'll candle them in a week or so.

 

[chickenteacher2]

So, I've candled them the last 3 nights. Two have been pulled and they were NOT fertile. The other two I'm iffy on. Tonight I was thinking how much easier it would've been to have them in the bator, since I not only had to fight off the broody mama (good mama), but also the rooster right next to her. Last night, he bit at my gloves. Tonight, I had to be a little more creative and put a kneeling pad next to him, so he couldn't see what I was doing. Gosh, I hope this is all worth it.

 

[chickenteacher2]

My last two eggs were not fertile (or the silkie egg died really early on).

So, I went out and found some silkie girls (9ish weeks) to go with my other guys.

but, we're just slow getting them used to each other. So, I guess no more mama experiments for me....well, maybe until spring.