How many eggs can a silkie sit on?

[Alexandria_t]

My silkie has been broody so I decided to give her some eggs. I gave her 2 small standard size (a little bit bigger than a silkie egg) and 1 regular standard sized eggs. So far she has 3 eggs. How many eggs would you give a silkie? I was looking around and some people said 13-14?! I think that is too many? What would you recommend? Thank you

 

[EggSighted4Life]

My silkie has been broody so I decided to give her some eggs. I gave her 2 small standard size (a little bit bigger than a silkie egg) and 1 regular standard sized eggs. So far she has 3 eggs. How many eggs would you give a silkie? I was looking around and some people said 13-14?! I think that is too many? What would you recommend? Thank you

A Silkie hen would not be able to hatch 13+ eggs, nor could she raise that many chicks at one time.

For Silkies and standard eggs... no more than 6-8 would be suggested according to my experience breeding them for a few years.

You are already setting her up for failure by starting with a couple eggs and adding more. It causes staggered hatch. You NEED to collect all the eggs you are going to set and put them under her at the SAME time. Be sure and mark them clearly (I use sharpie) so the nest can be checked nightly and any new deposits made from other ladies can be collected.

Some of us even just adopt chicks to our broody hens for raising. How long has she been sitting for already and how old is she?

 

[Nor-Cal Chickens]

A Silkie hen would not be able to hatch 13+ eggs, nor could she raise that many chicks at one time.

For Silkies and standard eggs... no more than 6-8 would be suggested according to my experience breeding them for a few years.

You are already setting her up for failure by starting with a couple eggs and adding more. It causes staggered hatch. You NEED to collect all the eggs you are going to set and put them under her at the SAME time. Be sure and mark them clearly (I use sharpie) so the nest can be checked nightly and any new deposits made from other ladies can be collected.

Some of us even just adopt chicks to our broody hens for raising. How long has she been sitting for already and how old is she?

Very informative, thank you!

 

[2 many chickens]

Maximum 6 eggs if they are all bantam sized eggs
5 if one is a bigger egg

 

[HuffleClaw]

A Silkie hen would not be able to hatch 13+ eggs, nor could she raise that many chicks at one time.

My silkie actually hatched 13 eggs once. Was a wonderful momma too. So it depends on the situation I think.

 

[CatWhisperer]

My silkie hatched 2 of her own eggs plus 9 serama eggs. They all did great.

 

[Henry&Friends]

As many eggs as she can cover... if an egg isn’t developing properly she should push it out of the nest.

 

[Matilda Belle]

I do 6-7 eggs.

 

[2 many chickens]

I feel the lesser, the better. I had a cochin sit on 12 eggs one time and a lot of them would get pushed out and wouldn't be kept warm enough.. so a few eggs died because of that. It was too many for her to keep warm. She wasn't that big no matter how much she fluffed herself out.

 

[fil76]

I had a silkie hatch 6 wyandote eggs
Cheers phil