I have three broody banties right now. One silkie, one silkie mix and one antwerp quail mix. I have three serama hens and a rooster. They have their own side pen. I have a big coop that all my birds share- that opens to free range of yard- I know my broodies can not brood in the big coop with the rest of the flock I want to set up my broodies for some serama eggs Can I put all three broodies in one hatch box? Its 3 feet by 2 feet - and I can fit three separate nesting boxes in it- it doubles as a nursery is my idea- it opens up into a side yard ( the one that the seramas are currently using) does each broody bird need her own area- or just her own nesting box ? about how many itty bitty serama eggs do you put under one silkie sized banty? 4? 6? I have two serama eggs from today, I just put them in a carton in the kitchen, and plan to put them under my broody once I get enough of them but I really hope to have all three broodies working for me-- but in the same side run if possible
I don't know about yours but my silkie mama will sit on anyone's eggs. She (mine) can sit on about 4-5 large eggs and she is an itty bitty thing, I have taken eggs from her before because I thought 5 large eggs were too much for her, but then she just swipes the other eggs that the other hens lay that day. I would take the Serama eggs and average them to a Medium or Large egg and then figure how many eggs to put under her I personally would not do anymore than 6 under a Silkie and that is if they are about the same size of a regular Silkie egg, I don't have Seramas so I don't know what their eggs look like I am just going off of what you are saying. You seem to have a pretty good idea of what you are doing, I would just be sure not to overload her. I think (and I may be wrong) that as long as your hens can get up periodically from the nest and do their thing then you should be good to give each of them their own nestbox. I have 2 broodies right now sitting on eggs. They choose to nest on the ground (they have boxes) they are both in the coop on their nests about 8 ft from eachother. So I do not nesscarily have them in seperate areas, they just choose to be farther apart, but I have had broodies that have nested less than a foot from eachother (again their choice here). Good Luck
Actually they can brood in with the rest of the flock, though there is more likelihood of problems if they do. Less likely if 3 broodies are together in one area, and even less if they are all separate. Chickens hatch others' eggs all the time, even duck or turkey eggs, whatever. I've never had a broody hatch only her own eggs. If I had 3 broodies in one area, I'd mark each of the 3 sets of eggs differently, just to see if they moved them around. And if the broodies raise the chicks with the flock, you won't have to integrate the chicks later, and won't need a grow out pen when the mamas stop mothering. Different people do this different ways; whatever works best for you.
I have silkies that have sat and hatched 11 eggs at a time. They were banty eggs. I had 1 sit 5 duck eggs. (They were bought at an auction and exploded) but she sat them for 4 weeks. If I have more than 1 broody at a time, they steal each others eggs and some get broken.
