Please help me with my broody hen! I am so confused ...

[Chicken0Boy]

She has been for quite a few days... eggs keep piling up under her. She is a silkie. Another thing I dont understand is one of my silkie roosters is sitting on the eggs with her. I am almost positive he is a rooster because he has streamers. So, here are my questions!

1. What do I need to prepare and/or do for my silkie?

2. And is it norkmal for a roo to do that?

BTW if there are any informational threads, please give link or let me know!



Thanks in advance!

 

[nwfl]

My silkie roo sits with his two hens when they lay. I've never let them brood a hatch on their own. Im a control freak and like hatching in the bator. Keep track of dates when she began setting to mark down days till hatch. She shoould be fine.

If you have an incubator just in case that is always good. She should get out of the nest once a day to eat drink and do a broody poop. Check out the silkie thread for more advice

 

[Chicken0Boy]

I tried to move her to a seperate cage, and she went CRAZY! She has atleast two new eggs each day... I am like

. I also have no idea when she started sitting on the eggs.
Should I force her to be in a seperate cage? And how should I find out when she will start hatching eggs, because I am clueless to when she started...

 

[NonnasBabies]

I would move her. But if you don't want to I know I've read where some will mark the eggs and remove new eggs from under her everyday.

Me personally, Since you have no clue how long she's been sitting and you know for a fact there are new eggs under her, I would remove all the eggs from under her and give her fresh ones that way you know when you should expect them to hatch. But that's just my opinion!!

Good Luck!

 

[Chicken0Boy]

Ok, so I thought I could do this... Candle the eggs and see all the ones that7-10 days old....I think that would be good, I would also mark them. Anybody have pics of 7 day candled eggs - 10 day old candled eggs?

 

[NonnasBabies]

I thought about that after I posted what I did. I think under the incubating tab they have a post that had pictures from like day one!

 

[Chicken0Boy]

I checked the pics, and I took the ones out that were not older than ten days. I still have like 10+

Most people would like this, but I ordered chicks for may

I guess I will be selling these little ones.

They look like big dark spots but are not moving. What does this mean?

 

[Judy]

You need to control what eggs she is sitting on, and they should all be put under her at the same time, or at most, within 24 hours. Otherwise she will abandon any unhatched eggs as soon as her chicks are 12-24 hours old.

Here's a great article on broodies. Note there are several pages to it.

http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Broody-Hens-1.html

I believe the article says to separate the broody in her own pen, which many do, but I usually let them set in the coop with the flock, and raise their chicks there, too. A good mama will protect and defend her chicks if there is an aggressive one in the flock. If you do this, mark the eggs you've selected for her to hatch (it doesn't matter who laid them) with a Sharpie and remove any added eggs daily. You may want to wear an oven mitt to protect your other hand from her pecking when you do this. You'll get adept at it soon enough; I just deflect her head away from my operating hand.

 

[Chicken0Boy]

Should I just take all the eggs out and start fresh and move her in to a seperate pen? I am so confused by everything right now.

Today has not been a good day at all for me...

It just seems nothing is going my way.

 

[Mrs. K]

Noo, just relax a bit. This will work, maybe not perfectly, but it will work, and it is lots of fun.

Go out and mark every egg under her. A full size hen can cover 12-15 eggs, but a silkie is smaller, and so, I would not let her have more than 4-8 eggs. Where the other eggs are coming from are probably from other hens. They crawl in on top of her, or laying new eggs into the clutch when she steps out, day after day. Those eggs you want out of there, only the marked eggs should stay. And you should check every day.

Now, last summer, they ran a poll on going for several weeks, and people averaged about a 50% hatch, so probably not every egg is going to hatch, but that is not your fault. Celebrate the ones that do. I think it helps if you know going into this, that they are not all going to hatch. Then anything above 50% is a woohoo!

I have left mine in the house with the flock too, and it worked well. I have left them and moved them, and really had better luck with leaving them where they wanted to be. Chickens know how to be chickens best, better than either you or I.

Mark the calendar, and be prepared for the longest 3 weeks of your life! MrsK