Silkie hen raising them?

[poultrycrazy]

How many golfballs should i put under her? She is a typical small hatchery silkie

 

[schellie69]

A hen needs to be broody before she will accept chicks. If she goes broody you can wait a few weeks and then at night give her some chicks to raise, You can not put chicks with a hen and have her just want to raise them.

 

[Barred Rocks forever]

agreed
Quote:

 

[JLS]

My Silkie is from MM and she is pretty small. The only thing you can do is try to ENCOURAGE her by placing fake eggs in the nest box. If she goes broody ...great. If not, that's ok too. But there is no guarentee. It is my opinion that you should be ready and willing to raise the chicks. The other BYCers are right...she must be broody for a few weeks before you could even attempt to introduce chicks.

If you dont want to raise chicks you could find a local breeder of Point of Lay pullets. I got two last year. Within less than 1 week they satrted laying strong! It worked very well. So you see there are options