Hatching my first time with broody silkies

[taterville4]

Both of my silkies went broody sometime in June. I should have kept track and separated them but 1st time is a lesson I guess. They keep stealing the other hens eggs even when they have no more room. I have 2 EE, 2 Highland Browns, 2 Silkies, 1 barred rock, and a rooster so my chicks are going to be cute mixes. I swore I heard chirping Wed afternoon then I know I heard it yesterday. Marmalade looks like an EE and there is a solid black one under Afro's wing that must be a Silkie Americauna mix. My son is hilarious, my mama showed him these pics and he said "It doesn't look like Red is the daddy". Told him theres not another rooster to cheat with hehe. Jerry Springer chicken style.

 

[taterville4]

Should I put the ones that dont fit under them in my incubator?

 

[sumi]

I would candle all the eggs, discard the clear ones and put the ones that seem to be more or less at the same stage of incubation under the two hens. Mark those eggs with a non-toxic marker so you can check and remove any fresh (stolen) eggs daily. Put all the remaining in the incubator. Here are some egg candling pics that will help you figure out more or less how far along they are:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...g-candling-pics-progression-though-incubation

If you find any eggs that are busy or close to hatching, leave those with the hens, so they can hatch them and get a break from sitting. When they get up with the chicks, put any unhatched eggs in the incubator as well.

 

[taterville4]

Thanks for the tips! I candled and put 16 in the incubator. Some shells were very thick and I must suck at candling. We had just came inside and my son said an egg was rocking and chirping! My daughter got in under Grandma. My son planted himself in front of the incubator and an hour later kept telling me he heard more chirping! We tried candling again but figured out what shell by an x crack that I think is called zipping. Hopefully today I get a silkie and barred rock mix! I'm wondering how many eggs rolled out from under the hens now. Exciting! Hopefully I didnt hurt anything by turning them.

 

[taterville4]

I'm up to 7 chicks now! One way born yesterday, a black silkie mix, that Grandma got off and moved when the chick was still wet. There was a little yolk left in the shell. I moved her against Afro's wing before I went to work and didn't see it last night. Afro got off her eggs yesterday so I put them in the incubator except one that looked pipped, I stuck that under Grandma. They've stole eggs at so many times I'm going to have a lot of different timed hatches. It seems the chicks play more with Afro and Grandma is content with just sitting on eggs.

 

[taterville4]

The two hens have 9 healthy chicks. One was partially hatched for a day and they werent laying on it so I put it in the bator but it didnt survive. I bought 2 2day old RIR chicks from my feed store and slipped them under while sleeping but that was a bad idea. The next morning I bought a heat lamp and cage for my garage. Three more have hatched from the bator and into my garage. I put the rest of Afros eggs in my bator since she is more interested in her chicks. Grandma and Afro seem to coparent and both take care of the chicks. They stay outside most of the day and dig holes. Too adorable! We let our rooster Red in to visit and he went into the coop and sat down then came out and did his happy clucks. Marmalade, my little yellow one, ran up to him. The hens got all the chicks in the coop last night. I try to hold all the chicks but they run from me and Grandma stares me down haha.