What should I do ?

[saintxy]

Today should be my Silkie's 14th day sitting on her eggs. She haven't left her eggs until today, went and run around the yard for about ten min and back to her eggs. What I am concerned about is the amount of eggs she has in her nest.
She has 24 !!! Is that normal and I am not sure if I should remove any from her nest ?

 

[QueenMisha]

Yes, this is bad. You need to candle all of the eggs, determine which are the oldest, and mark those with a pen or pencil. Do not keep multiple ages of eggs - this will result in a staggered hatch, which cannot be done under broody. She will leave the nest 1-3 days after the first eggs hatch, leaving any remaining unhatched eggs or very young babies behind. Chances the majority of the eggs she has are either A. Non-developing or B. Began developing but died, because a Silkie can hardly fit on 6-8 eggs, much less 24, so many have likely been pushed out of under her and been chilled.

After getting her down to 4-6 eggs of the same age group, you need to either check her nest every day and remove any new eggs laid there (this is why it is important to mark the ones she will be keeping), or separate her from the flock entirely for the duration of her brooding and raising.

As I said, you will need to remove most of the eggs she currently has. If you have an incubator, you can place them in there. If not, let them cool somewhere for 12-24 hours, then throw them away.

 

[saintxy]

Thank you very much for your reply. This is my first time and I m very anxious of her hatching the new chicks.

 

[saintxy]

This morning , 15th day into hatch, my broody hen went out for a walk for about ten minutes.
I noticed a few of the eggs cooled down. I took them out.
Later she went back to sit on the eggs.

Is this normal for her to leave the eggs and go for a walk on day 15 into hatch ?

 

[annmarie33]

Did you candle the eggs? You should candle them all and see what stages they are. Do you have an incubator? I'm not sure this will turn out well and you may only get 1 or 2 chicks if you do nothing. I am not certain she can even keep that many warm anyway so there are probably some blood rings. Yes it is normal for the hen to go out and eat, drink and poop and then head back. I think it's ok up do a few hours sometimes but most stay out just to quickly eat. My hen left every few days for 15-30 minutes each time.

 

[saintxy]

Thank you for your reply. I have taken 8 eggs from her today and put it in the incubator.
I candled the eggs some are normal with no signs of embryo.
I have only left the ones that have some sign of life in them .