Multiple brooding silkies: is it a safe method?

[Eelantha]

My coop has just been renovated and is ready to welcome some inhabitants. Someone gave me 3 three week old EE chicks to start with, but I want to add a few more chicken breeds to get a colorful egg basket. To that end I plan to buy some Silkies and hopefully trigger that much-talked about (and often bemoaned) broody side they're so renown for. I plan to naturally incubate 20-24 fertilized eggs under 3 Silkies, with crossed fingers that the hatches are successful.

The question is: can I have my Silkies brood all in the same room, or must I absolutely isolate each of them? I would prefer being able to keep them all in one side of the coop while my 3 chicks grow up on the other side, separated from the adults to avoid any pecking. However, I've never had any brooding silkies before, so I don't know how far those maternal instincts stretch. Will they accept each other's presence and chicks? Will they raise and protect their young together? Or will they have the mother of all showdowns over each other's eggs, reject any chicks that isn't theirs upon hatching and peck each other's babies to death in order to make room for their own progeny?

I'm hoping to avoid any possible feud between the mothers by buying my Silkies from the same place, preferably with them having grown-up together, where sisterly bonds would encourage mutual tolerance over hostile reactions. My coop is empty of poultry except for my three motherless chicks, currently under a heat lamp, so the Silkies would make the main flock and brood undisturbed. I'm not sure when it would be safe to mingle my three chicks with my Silkies and their own chicks, though...

So, is it safe to have 3 Silkies brood 20-24 eggs together (6-8 eggs per hen/nest), or must I absolutely separate them to avoid any threat to their well-being, and those of their eggs/chicks? If I must keep them all isolated, how long must I do so until it's safe to reunite everyone and their babies together? Any help to solve this is greatly appreciated, thanks!

 

[Kfults]

They may not all go broody together at the same time!

 

[centrarchid]

You can do them all in the same room, but try space nest at least a few feet. @Kfults makes good point they may not all go broody at same time. When I have multiple broods in a 10 x 10 dog kennel, the hens are kept separated by a few feet using little pens for each. Chicks can move about freely and go to a common waterer and feeder.

 

[NNYchick]

It’s all going to depend on the individual hen and her mood. I’ve had multiple hens raise clutches together then the next time they fought over chicks and had to separate. I have also had hens not want to move and had to seclude her where she sat and a different time had luck moving same hen and chicks to their own area. Broody are fickle. What I have learned is just be prepared for the need to separate and watch closely to ensure they are good mamas. Although for the most part all of mine love to sit and incubate but not all of them are attentive to the chicks in the beginning. I’ve lost more chicks because the hen either pushes them away or they crawl out and she doesn’t put them back and they get cold and die a few inches from her. I now try to plan hatches to happen over a weekend by collecting eggs marking them then give them all at the same time. By doing this i know when they are supposed to hatch and I can frequently go out over the weekend to check on things and stuff chicks back under if needed.

 

[aart]

where sisterly bonds would encourage mutual tolerance over hostile reactions.

I wouldn't count on that...sisters can have the fiercest battles
So are you planning on getting adult silkies now?
What are you plans for integration?
Your 3 chicks and these new birds may not get along right off that bat.

I'm not sure when it would be safe to mingle my three chicks with my Silkies and their own chicks, though...

Will the silkies you buy already have chicks with them?

 

[Eelantha]

@Kfults: No, they may not. I keep my fingers crossed for it, though.

@aart: Yes, I'm planning to get adult Silkies in the following days, because ideally I would like my chicks to start laying by late fall. However it's highly possible I don't reach that goal; it's a cherry-on-the-cake if it happens. And no, as far as I'm aware the ones I want to get aren't with chicks.

My plans for integration are already in place; I built a fence that divides my coop in two parts, meaning I can safely keep my growing EEs on one side while the silkies are on the other side, both at floor level and in view of each other at all times. Laying on top of that for support, I have a second mini-coop built into the walls, whose plywood walls and floor I've unfolded over said fence to make a third compartment at chest level, this one with two heat lamps attached to the ceiling. Basically I have two 'cages' on one side of my coop, and leftover free space on the other side to improvise with. I can welcome three different age groups in total if needed be, and even four if I add another divider inside my fence to accommodate two brooding mothers instead of just one.

The heated coop's main purpose is to keep my chickens warm in the winter, but I'm pretty sure I can raise motherless chicks in there too, just like I can quarantine a sick bird if needed be. The fenced area supporting the heated coop helps more with integrating new members, or isolating one (or two) hen(s) from the flock in case broodiness shows itself.

What I -am- anxious with is how long I must wait before i can start mixing the other mothers with the other chicks, EEs included, without endangering any of them. I've only seen two bendys raise their chicks before, and the 'weaning' process for the chicks differs from this one due to the lack of a rooster in the coop to keep things in order. The first bendy completely abandoned her chicks to rejoin her flock; the second one fought with her sister to protect her babies, and the rooster actually had to get involved to restore order. In both cases the integration was tricky, and feathers went flying... That's why I set up a fence inside the coop, to hopefully make the integration easier between chick and adult if they see each other from day 1 onward. But I have no idea how long I must wait for the familiarity to really take effect u.u

@NNYchick: So the Silkies love to incubate, but have a tendency to neglect their newborn chicks if they still have some eggs to hatch? I'll have to keep my heated coop ready for use if that's a common trait o.o

@centrarchid : I've never heard of a 10 feet long and wide dog kennel... but I can improvise cages to keep the silkes isolated, with enough space between the bars that the chicks can go through to a common waterer and feeder. NNYchick raised a good point with potential mothers neglecting chicks in favor of brooding over their nests; if I adopt the dog kennel idea, I'll have to hang a heat lamp close to the waterer/feeder so the chicks can at least keep themselves warm until I get there to put them back under their mothers or into the heated coop. Hopefully it won't have to come to that, but thank you for mentioning the dog kennel idea

 

[NNYchick]

So the Silkies love to incubate, but have a tendency to neglect their newborn chicks if they still have some eggs to hatch? I'll have to keep my heated coop ready for use if that's a common trait o.o

They usually make good mothers, my neglectful mothers have been with the first time hatching. I was just giving some examples of issues I have had hatching chicks with broody. It is not very black and white and you have to be observant and ready to improvise. Due to having a silkie flock I never have a shortage of broody hens and have been lucky that if one young hen isn't up to par in the mother department I have another broody to graft chicks to.
As for a separate area for broody and chicks I have used a number of different cages such as Med or large dog wire dog crate, my favorite are repositioning dog kennel that can be set up in a lot of different ways. I use these for section off chick areas and broody areas. My broody have usually wanted back in the flock at about a week, my flock is use to chicks and have learned broody is nothing to mess with. I don’t heat my coop or use heat lamps so I can’t comment on that. Here are pictures of my set ups.
Incubator hatched chicks, note they can get between the bars so they have a safe area to eat drink heat but can mingle with flock. I have no integration issues with this.

 

[Mylied]

I've never had a problem with silkies accepting anyone. I have a bantam pen and that's where I put my done with the heat lamp but not ready to be mixed with the bigger birds chicks. I have showgirls and cochins plus one game hen now. Still have no problems putting in half grown chicks. I currently have a showgirl, a cochin, and the game hen who all brooded one nest. 6 or 7 chicks hatched and they all take care of them no problem. They will peck at the other birds if they mess with the babies but not each other. I really just let my bantams do what they want.

The chicks are under them in this pic. They refused to peek out. Oh wait! I just noticed a bit of yellow showing under the cochin. :-D

 

[danceswithronin]

I had two silkies broody on the same nest this year, they didn't seem hostile to each other whatsoever and if I'd put fertile eggs under them they probably could have hatched out twenty. But other hens would fight over the eggs depending on their place in the pecking order. So I think it's down to individual personality.

 

[Mylied]

3 moms and 7 babies