Chipperchickens
In the Brooder
- Aug 18, 2019
- 11
- 6
- 13
About a month ago I had a silkie go missing. I honestly thought she was snatched up by a predator or possibly picked up by a FIP on vacation, thinking the chicken was lost. (I free range for about 3 hours a day and all day sat/sun). After searching high and low we came to the conclusion she was gone for good...Fast forward, I have a serama bantam that has spurts of broodiness. About 2 weeks ago, the serama bantam didn’t coop at night. Having seen her about a half hour before, foraging with the flock, I knew she was probably hiding an egg from me and sitting on it. Sure enough, she was under the coop with a small clutch of six. (My coop is a repurposed shed) while retrieving my serama bantam I noticed that signature white, cotton ball fuzz coming out of a far corner under the coop!!! To our surprise, it was the missing silkie! The next morning I decided to check up on her and she was sitting on a clutch of 42 eggs! I guess she had been stealing them from the nesting box inside the coop, or her girl friends were just making “donations” directly. Knowing that such a small bird couldn’t possibly maintain auch a large clutch, I reduced the size to 10 eggs, which I deemed viable via candle lighting. Which brings me to today, it’s August 18th, and I’m thinking the eggs are getting really close to hatching. Will she instinctively get off of them if they don’t hatch? I really don’t want her to sacrifice her health for “dud” eggs.