Silkie Found Sitting on 14 Eggs!

[CallyB57]

This morning I was unable to account for one of my Silkies, so I finally got a flashlight and prayed she was under the henhouse.

She was. I could see a couple of eggs laying close around her. Later on after I left for work my x-husband went outside and pried a piece of Tuftex apart from another piece at a seam-which borders one side of the henhouse as she was way up under there. He was able to get his hand in the crack and gently moved her off the eggs and there were 14 of them all together, including the ones that were rolled out from under her. I told him to get the eggs and put them in a clean box with pine shavings, then show her where they were and put her in the Silkie henhouse for her to sit on them. She came out a while later and he nabbed her and put her in the henhouse with the eggs. BIG MISTAKE!!!!

This afternoon he opened the hen house door and she ran back around to the 'other' henhouse and ducked under it. Went back to the same spot - to no eggs - and has been sitting there for hours. She won't come out, even though there is nothing to sit on. None of the other Silkies will sit on the eggs as I have tried to put them on the nest and they just get right off. I'm sure that the eggs belong to all the Silkie hens I have (4 of them), but the other Silkies refuse to share the responsibility of sitting on the eggs. Right now it is dark and she is going to be under the henhouse alone all night. I'm afraid a rat or some other critter will attack her. The henhouse is completely enclosed in a 6' tall fence, but some critter could easily get in the fence by climbing a tree and dropping down on top of one of the henhouses. Does anybody have advice on how I can get this little Silkie out - nothing worked - scratch grains, cooing sweetly, prodding gently with a stick. She won't come out!!! The henhouse sits about 12" off the ground and maybe a little less where she is holed up. My x said he can not drag her through the crack as it will hurt her...the Tuftex is hard to pull out because it is buried in the ground about 18". Can anyone help?

 

[CheerfulHeart2]

Oh dear...good luck getting it sorted out. Maybe you could put the eggs under her where she is for now. Not the best option if you have predators...but that was my only idea.

 

[CallyB57]

I was also thinking of putting them back, but the ground is just dirt under there and I was afraid the eggs would get too cold when she gets off them. It's in the upper 40's, lower 50's here right now. Since she is under the henhouse and it is now night time and her eggs are in the Silkie henhouse, will the little chicks die if she warmed them up, then stopped sitting on them? They won't be sat on all night long and it's cold outside.

 

[koifarm]

You'll likely have to go through getting her out, then penning her up, apart from the other hens in her own little pen so she can't get out and with some fresh eggs, the ones you found will have turned bad with no heat on them for more than a day.
Broody hens are remarkably focused on brooding once they start and virtually impossible to break off brooding, hence her return to where she last had the eggs.
If you can get her out, put her in her own little enclosure with water and some small amounts of scratch feed or corn, she'll give up when 21 days or so pass...she will starve to death if no water is nearby and thereby cull herself. You need not put any eggs under her and she will still nest up and be broody anyway.
Good luck...

 

[CallyB57]

OMG! I've got to go get her out from under the henhouse. I'll give her a fresh egg tomorrow to sit on. I have something I can put her in with fresh water, etc. I'm going now to see if I can get her out - be back soon...well, maybe not soon, judging from what I've already been through this evening.

 

[CallyB57]

I got her out...was not an easy chore to get her out without scaring her to death...she was about half asleep. She's in the Silkie henhouse with all the other Silkies and the 13 eggs (one was a banty chicken egg, which made 14 eggs, but my x took the banty egg and put it in the frig). Tomorrow I will seclude her and put a couple of fresh eggs from any? chicken under her and let her sit until they hatch or until she becomes un-broody. She'll have plenty of food/water, treats. I can't thank you enough for warning me that the situation could become serious if I didn't act on it. I feel so much better now.

 

[koifarm]

Glad you got her out okay...just watch her when you open that coop up, she'll make a run on the door....have a net handy....lol....just be sure she can't get out of her own little enclosure, she'll try.....
Good luck!!

 

[CallyB57]

Well, Sugar the Silkie is still sitting on 5 eggs...had to get rid of the 13 eggs she was on, but all the Silkie hens laid more, and she ended up sitting on 5 eggs. They should be hatching on Dec. 5 or 6, and my grandchildren are coming over to check out this little 'chick hatching' and 'momma hen' miracle. I am very excited about it also and can't wait to see the chicks!

The father has to be Smoky, who is a tough little smoke colored Silkie that romances all the little Silkie hens. And he is a VERY beautiful, cocky little bird. So, probably the chicks will be a mix of buff/smoke, white/smoke, and/or black/smoke. Just can't wait to see what hatches out! I'm going to let Sugar raise the chicks completely without any interfence - will not bring them inside - from watching her, I think she knows exactly what to do. I will post photos of the new babies here if I can figure out how to do it again.

 

[Fowl97]

wait the 5th or 6th is 5 days away i thought it was 21 for a egg to hatch im confused

 

[CallyB57]

4 of 5 of my Silkie eggs have hatched - the 4th egg is hatching right now. It took 51 hours for 4 eggs to hatch...since 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, if I'm counting right. Only the 5th egg shows no signs of hatching - no peeps or taps coming from the eggs. I didn't think egg 4 was going to hatch either and I'm really surprised it is hatching.

wait the 5th or 6th is 5 days away i thought it was 21 for a egg to hatch im confused

Don't be confused, sir or ma'am. I had a big problem about a month ago with a Silkie gone broody under my henhouse - sitting on 14 eggs (one was a banty egg, and theother 13 were Silkie eggs) - All the birds (except my Brahmas) were going under the henhouse and laying their eggs and one little black Silkie was trying to 'set' on all of them. We took all the eggs out, put them in a fresh nest in the henhouse with pine shavings, and the little black Silkie kept going back under the henhouse and sat on the same spot - though no eggs were there. So after a couple of days, the eggs were probably bad and we threw them away, then sealed in the bottom of the henhouse so she could not go back under there. Well, the Silkies started laying eggs in the henhouse then and my white Silkie, Sugar, went broody and began setting on 5 eggs...that was on a Sunday in the middle of November. So I just counted 3 weeks ahead, brought my little Sugar and her eggs in the house a couple of days before the eggs were due to hatch and this past Sunday at 3:00 p.m. - the first little darlin' bird was hatched. I will log on tomorrow and post some photos if I can remember how to do it. I'm on dial-up at home and can't get a photo to load, but I'll be on my work computer tomorrow and will be able to do it. Come back and look for the photos of my new little chicks - 2 black with a few white polka dots, and 1 light smoky gray and the egg that is in the process of hatching has some fuzz showing that looks to be smoky gray. Hope I have cleared up your confusion. Everybody knows it takes 21 days to hatch a chicken!!!