How many babies can a silkie broody keep warm

[henney penny]

She has seven under her right now and I thought that only one or two of the silkies eggs in my incubator would hatch and it looks like five are going to hatch.I wanted to put them under her with the others but do you think she can keep 12 warm?There is a heat lamp in there but it still gets cold in the night

 

[aoxa]

Are they all silkies?

The LF outgrow the bantam chicks really fast, so seven sounds like too much to me if they are not bantams. I wouldn't let her have more than she could hatch herself.

But I wouldn't want to risk it.

 

[henney penny]

They are all silkies,she has 7under right now and is doing fine with them,if the all the incubator ones hatch there will be 5 more a total of 12 to have under her.And I do have a heat lamp over her also

 

[aoxa]

If you have the heat lamp, I don't see why not. I wouldn't expect her to keep them all warm enough though.

 

[henney penny]

She is in the coop and in a dog crate,the coop gets down low at night in the 20`s.

 

[henney penny]

Two of the incubator babies.Put them in the fish tank to learn to eat and drink and wait for the others to hatch

 

[Wnunezcruz]

I think she would do fine with all the extra babies.

 

[Mum]

I hatched 6 under a broody Silkie last Spring. The farm where I bought the eggs recommended only 6 due to the size of the Silkie. More than that and you risk them not surviving because they need her body heat for weeks to come, not just when they are little bitty fluffy chicks.

 

[suzeqf]

Quote:
we have the same set up, My girl is sitting on 6 eggs at the moment 4 silkie cross and 2 turken cross

 

[omegorchards]

I was wondering how many standard (say a Barred Rock) or large size (say a Jersey Giant) babies a Silkie can handle without supplemental heat. Any thoughts?