kpierce1015
In the Brooder
Our silkie has been broody lately, so we decided this time around to get 3 chicks from the feed store for her to be a surrogate mother for, and to add to our flock. If all goes well we were planning to do it again with some more.
We havent let her hatch chicks before, but everything seemed to go well at first. We switched the 3 fake eggs she was sitting on for 3 chicks (2 rhode island reds and 1 barred rock) after dark. We did that Thursday night. The next morning, they all seemed to be doing well. I checked on them again a couple hours later (she and the chicks are in a dog crate in the coop with 5 other hens and 1 rooster) 2 chicks had squeezed out of the crate, where we didn't have it properly secured. I popped them back in and blocked off the opening with some wood as a temporary fix until we could get more small mesh fencing. That night, my husband was putting the chickens up for the night, and refilling the water, etc. He thinks he didn't properly secure the crate back up, bc the next morning (Saturday) 2 of the chicks were missing (1 rir and the barred rock).
Anyways long story short, we are down to 1 chick, and she seems to be sticking to momma well, so we're grateful for that. However we are worried about her being the only chick, and getting picked on when momma and chick mixes back with the flock, and not having any other chicks to help her (as I know when adding to the flock you should usually do more than 1). We're also upset that we lost the two.
We were thinking of maybe going back up to the feed store and getting 2 more to add to the silkie and chick, but wasn't sure if the silkie would take the 2 new ones. The chicks would all be the same age and same breed as the 2 we lost, but not sure if we missed the window to add more and need to wait until she's broody again. What do y'all think?
We havent let her hatch chicks before, but everything seemed to go well at first. We switched the 3 fake eggs she was sitting on for 3 chicks (2 rhode island reds and 1 barred rock) after dark. We did that Thursday night. The next morning, they all seemed to be doing well. I checked on them again a couple hours later (she and the chicks are in a dog crate in the coop with 5 other hens and 1 rooster) 2 chicks had squeezed out of the crate, where we didn't have it properly secured. I popped them back in and blocked off the opening with some wood as a temporary fix until we could get more small mesh fencing. That night, my husband was putting the chickens up for the night, and refilling the water, etc. He thinks he didn't properly secure the crate back up, bc the next morning (Saturday) 2 of the chicks were missing (1 rir and the barred rock).
Anyways long story short, we are down to 1 chick, and she seems to be sticking to momma well, so we're grateful for that. However we are worried about her being the only chick, and getting picked on when momma and chick mixes back with the flock, and not having any other chicks to help her (as I know when adding to the flock you should usually do more than 1). We're also upset that we lost the two.
We were thinking of maybe going back up to the feed store and getting 2 more to add to the silkie and chick, but wasn't sure if the silkie would take the 2 new ones. The chicks would all be the same age and same breed as the 2 we lost, but not sure if we missed the window to add more and need to wait until she's broody again. What do y'all think?
