Back from the coop--at least one of the silkie eggs under the broody is chirping. Anyone know how long I will need to leave them under her so she will have had enough "mother" experience that she might stop being broody? I really do not have a safe set up away from the other birds to have her raise them. Would she be happy in a very large cage in the "people" part of the coop where the other birds couldn't peck at the tlittle ones? I'd love some "broody hen" advisce! " lol....
A cage set up inside the coop that the chicks can't get out of would work. I will never again take chicks away from a broody after an experience I had. She pined for them for literally months, looking for them in the broody pen, where I had removed them and sold them when they were a week old. Folks said she'd forget in a day. She didn't. It broke my heart. I let her raise the next batch as long as she wanted the next time she went broody.
I have two D'Anver x Lav Cochin chicks hatched, one BR x EE and one pure D'Anver pipped.
wish mine would at least show signs of hatching. They prolly aren't going to, but at least the ones that are due to hatch in a couple weeks are moving around in there. lots of little silkies..lol
Meshell
what day did you set them? Is it day 21 yet?
for my first hatch they didn't start hatching until day 22. I also counted my days wrong. Seems like there is a day zero then day one starts.
21 Days is really an estimate. They can start hatching anywhere from Day 19 to Day 23, though if temps are correct most of the way through, they should not go past Day 22, generally. At least, I do not allow late hatchers. Those rarely end well because they keep growing in there, if they are still alive, or they are deformed and should not hatch at all. I've only ever had one healthy chick hatch on Day 23, and that was a special case I allowed, since I had so few of that breed in the bator at the time.
What works for me in counting is that if I set eggs before noon, that same day counts as Day One. If it's after noon, I count the next day as Day One. Again, though, just an estimate.
Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens actually says that late hatchers will breed late hatchers and that is a reason not to allow it. Interesting, huh?
(Back from the coop--at least one of the silkie eggs under the broody is chirping. Anyone know how long I will need to leave them under her so she will have had enough "mother" experience that she might stop being broody? I really do not have a safe set up away from the other birds to have her raise them. Would she be happy in a very large cage in the "people" part of the coop where the other birds couldn't peck at the tlittle ones? I'd love some "broody hen" advisce!)
I had two Broody hens that sat their eggs in the coop with all the other birds and are raising the single surviving chick with all the other chickens. Total of 14 chickens in the flock including the now 8 wk old chick. None of the other chickens bothered the baby much until just in the past few days now that the Mamma's aren't so protective. Nothing serious, just a peck here n there if they want him to move away.
Meshell
what day did you set them? Is it day 21 yet?
for my first hatch they didn't start hatching until day 22. I also counted my days wrong. Seems like there is a day zero then day one starts.
(Back from the coop--at least one of the silkie eggs under the broody is chirping. Anyone know how long I will need to leave them under her so she will have had enough "mother" experience that she might stop being broody? I really do not have a safe set up away from the other birds to have her raise them. Would she be happy in a very large cage in the "people" part of the coop where the other birds couldn't peck at the tlittle ones? I'd love some "broody hen" advisce!)
I had two Broody hens that sat their eggs in the coop with all the other birds and are raising the single surviving chick with all the other chickens. Total of 14 chickens in the flock including the now 8 wk old chick. None of the other chickens bothered the baby much until just in the past few days now that the Mamma's aren't so protective. Nothing serious, just a peck here n there if they want him to move away.
A cage set up inside the coop that the chicks can't get out of would work. I will never again take chicks away from a broody after an experience I had. She pined for them for literally months, looking for them in the broody pen, where I had removed them and sold them when they were a week old. Folks said she'd forget in a day. She didn't. It broke my heart. I let her raise the next batch as long as she wanted the next time she went broody.
I have two D'Anver x Lav Cochin chicks hatched, one BR x EE and one pure D'Anver pipped.
wish mine would at least show signs of hatching. They prolly aren't going to, but at least the ones that are due to hatch in a couple weeks are moving around in there. lots of little silkies..lol
