How many is TOO many?! (And my intro)

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randiferina

randiferina

Songster
6 Years
Mar 18, 2016
77
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Georgia
My family's first chicken was a tiny little yellow chick that we impulsively bought on a trip to the feed store one day.. The kids named her Eep and that was about 3 years ago.. LITTLE DID WE KNOW that Eep was to be the beginning of a new obsession :lol: .. I mean really.. Who can have just ONE chicken.. We ended up purchasing 4 more chicks.. 2 BOs (we lost one last year) and 2 Silkies all hens except 1 silkie roo.. Who, might I add, is quite a dashing solid black young fellow (Eep ended up be a solid white EE with silver legs.. She lays blue eggs) a few months down the road we ended up with 2 RIR pullets (one of which we lost to a hawk ) we enjoy having so much diversity :)
Moving forward... Broodies and babies :love:jumpy
Our first broody was our silkie hen named Chickaletta (big shock that the silkie went broody first, right?) she sat on 7 eggs (none were hers) 2 hatched, 5 were duds.. Our rooster was clearly slacking a little :gig both that hatched were rir x silkie.. Handsome little things.. I have them posted on another forum.. The were both roos and rehomed.. Next broody was the BO.. She went broody in November :rant too cold for hatching so we broke her from it.. Last summer the silkie hatched 4 out of 6 and the BO went broody late again...

Fast forward... Now! Spring time! :D:love Our BO (whose name is Joy) has finally got broody at the right time! :celebrateShe went broody friday.. I let her sit through the weekend to make sure she meant business.. Monday I gave her eggs and she's about as happy as a broody on eggs can be!!! She's a pretty big girl.. Which brings me to my title of the thread... How many is TOO many?! Since she's a big gal.. i figure.. More eggs increases her odds, RIGHT?! .. She's on 12 :eek::lau 4 are silkie eggs so she isnt too stuffed.. But it raised the question in my mind... What is the MOST that your hen has ever sat on? And of those, how many hatched?! ... I can't wait to see how many babies she gets from this clutch
 

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Hi
My first broody, Tasha, an araucana cross, who is quite petite for a standard sized hen and lays what I would describe as large bantam sized eggs, set herself up with a clutch of 14 of her own eggs and hatched all 14 and raised all of them successfully free ranging without losing one.... she is my star girl! That was by far my most successful hatch.... beginners luck! Good luck with your Orpington broody! I love watching hens raise chicks..... I just hate dealing with all the cockerels that result!
 
MillersFarm said:
Welcome to Backyard Chickens~! Sounds like you got a lot going on right now~ I say let her hatch the 12. I had a Jersey Giant go broody before, Hatched out 16 out of 16 eggs,
Keep us updated on how it goes~!
Click to expand...
She's on the 12 as of right now.. Im thinking to candle in a few days and see how it's going..? Ive never candled before so this should be fun :D
 
Congrats!

I have a BO on 12 eggs right now and I gave 12 to another last fall. The one who was on eggs in the fall hatched 10. Two of the eggs broke the first week because they had thin shells. She hatched the rest.

On candling, you can't see much before day 7. I wouldn't candle before then. I candle at 7, 14, and 18 days.
 

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