the best broody

[LuvMyBLR]

It's because you run the risk of a couple hatching before the others and her leaving the nest to care for them. A smaller nest runs less risk of having early or late hatchers. I would do 4-6 under a silkie

Seems like a safe number to me.

 

[zebserema]

ok cool but as soon as i gave the last reply i looked outside and she had got off and not just for food and water but just to be with the rest of the flock she had been on her nest for 3 days and still isnt laying eggs oh well i guess ill just stick to the incubator

 

[Zaxby's2]

Quote:
A broody hen will take a five to twenty minute break every day, so she might be doing that. And about the amount of eggs to put under her the reason is actually that the more eggs you give her the less she can cover, and some eggs might get cold and die. If you put all the eggs under her at the same time then they'll all hatch at the same time, so you shouldn't have to worry about that.

Let's hope your hen is just taking a break!

 

[pinkado]

Silkys are the best
i had a silky and a banty, both brill brooders, but to prove silkys are the best, heres a little story
put eggs under my two babys, phesant eggs, both hens silky and banty hatches out a few, heres the difference, a banty is a better parent, so, seeing my banty could take more babys, i moved the 4 baby phesants to the banty, and took the silky away, i gave her a few days rest, recovery and such, and just for curiosity, i put eggs in a nest, bang! shes sitting on them, haha, now, one of the baby phesants was a malinistic, different coulor than the rest, so banty wouldnt take them, soooooo
i took one of my 8 week old silky babys, put her in a brooder unit with the baby, and, shes sitting on it, shes barely out from under her mother, and already, she wants to be a mommy

tip for you
if you see your hen go broody...move her and then nest to somewhere quiet, as she can get bullied of the nest by a rooster of higher ranking chicken
. make sure she is in a closed area, where she cannot leave the nest, so she wont forget what shes doing,
silky hens are a bit like blonds (sorry if your blond, only using sterio type) they tend to forget what there doing if something interesting is happening outside, hahah

 

[LuvMyBLR]

Zaxby's2 :

Quote:
A broody hen will take a five to twenty minute break every day, so she might be doing that. And about the amount of eggs to put under her the reason is actually that the more eggs you give her the less she can cover, and some eggs might get cold and die. If you put all the eggs under her at the same time then they'll all hatch at the same time, so you shouldn't have to worry about that.

Let's hope your hen is just taking a break!

I agree about the possibility of the eggs getting chilly, but we all have seen that even if you put all your eggs in an incubator OR under a hen at the same time, then you can get hatching pretty far apart. Just depends on the chick.​