how many eggs can a silkie sit on??

[Ericasl]

I have a broody silkie that I have been trying to break!! Not going to happen so I am going to let her hatch some eggs. How many can she sit on? She keeps stealing eggs, golfballs, wooden eggs. What is a good amount of eggs for a silkie to sit on? They are not silkie eggs that she will be hatching so they are a little bigger, I was just wondering what is a good amount for a good hatch?

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

I would say around 10 silkie eggs, maybe 6 regular sized eggs.

 

[peeps7]

My silkie hen is sitting on 14 eggs, 9 of her own and 5 d'uccle eggs.

 

[silkieluver_07]

my silkie is sitting on 14 silkie eggs.

 

[bantymum]

I only let mine sit on 6 maximum as they have trouble keeping them all warm otherwise.
I have let them sit on more before but they got chilled when they rotated them.
Thats just me, to be sure they will cope only 6!!!!

 

[pbjmaker]

I'm just trying to picture how the chickens "steal" the eggs...
Do they just try and take over a nest or do they roll them away when no one is looking? Sometimes I think they really have little arms hiding under all those feathers.

(I'm serious about wanting to know how they "steal" them)

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Quote:
My Silkie hens kept stealing the eggs from each other.

They stick out their neck, and tuck the egg under their chin, and roll it under there chest. LOL...it is quite cute to watch

 

[Ericasl]

Well she has 8 eggs 3 of them are smaller eggs and she has them all covered up I have checked her 3 times and she is happy sitting on her eggs. The fun part is the eggs are all different I got them from a friend of a friend and she has a mixed bag so this is like a grab bag. It is going to kill me waiting.

 

[GoodEgg]

My Australorp actually stole some out of a box next to her. She had to lift them up several inches to get them over the edge of the box. I'm amazed at how chickens can move eggs. (I almost agree with the arm theory!)

I didn't know they could hold chicks either. You pick them up, and they have almost half a dozen chicks tucked under their wings that you don't know are even there unless you spread the wings and give them a little shake, LOL.

Chicken mamas are so cool.

Oh ... my Austalorp, a BIG girl, couldn't handle more than 3 or so silkie sized eggs, just because she wasn't good at seeing what was going on when she put stolen eggs under herself or changed her position. My silver penciled banty could easily handle 6 or 7 silkie-sized eggs and did a GREAT job of keeping them all under her most of the time. My rosecomb, otoh, who is the smallest chicken of all of them, showed up with 15 chicks last week that she apparently was able to incubate just fine (from rosecomb sized eggs, lol).

Not that that answers your question (and I think others have already done a good job of that) but just to say that in my VERY limited experience (this is my first time hatching any babies!) it seems to depend somewhat on the individual hen as well? At least as far as I can see.

trish

 

[chubbychick]

Thank you for these answers, my silkie has gone broody but I'm going to try to take the eggs she's on and put some polish eggs under her.