I think our silkie is broody. What should we do?

[juliemom25]

We have a white silkie hen that is a sweetie. Before we knew she was a she we named her James Bond because she would do acrobats in the brooder box. Now she goes by "JB." She is one of the few hens we have named and she really has a sweet disposition. Anyways, we are pretty sure she is broody. The kids feed the chickens twice a day and they said she hasn't been coming out of the box, my husband confirmed this. So I went out to check tonight and she is definitely sitting on 3 standard eggs. Is there any way to know how old the eggs are? It has been unseasonably cold these last few days (we live in central Ohio), should I be worried about the eggs? I moved her when I went out and she was fine with getting off. I marked the eggs with today's date and set her back down. She hopped right back on top of them and settled down. What should I be watching for? We just started raising chickens last spring and this is our first experience with a broody hen and possible babies. We are fine with a few more chicks and my 10 yr old son sooooo wants her to hatch these. If the chicks hatch, will the other chickens be nice to them?

Thanks guys. I am checking out the rest of the board for these answers, but so far I haven't seen anything.

Julie

 

[JCoogle]

If she hatches them she will make sure they are nice to them. My lil silkie put a very large RIR Roo across the fence when he got to close to them.