[frenchliving]

I have a 8 month old broody silkie, she sat for around 2 weeks and when Ilifted her to clean, make sure she had feed/watered etc. made sure she was ok, she was sitting on nothing! poor thing, I have just introduced 4 new silkies around 3 months old, although they are in different coops but the same run, I couldnt shut the door because the newbies need to go in and out, so I decided I would give her some of my other hens eggs to sit on.

It seemed a good idea at the time as I know other people use broody hens to hatch eggs brought off internet etc. but now im thinking oooo should I have done this. My other hen is a bantam type bird, and they didnt mix at all in the garden (they have choosen the small run and coop that i was keeping for broodies)

The eggs (2)are due on 13th january, and i know thats not a great time for new chicks but we are in sw france so its a bit milder but our january's can be cold, we havent had must frost yet!

Question is, have I done the right thing?? will she reject these.

My cockerel doesnt seem to get near the silkies not through lack of trying, so I couldnt have put silkie eggs under her?

Thanks for advice

T

[joyfull]

one of my best broodies was a silkie x and she hatched large fowl and bantam eggs (not at the same time) no problem, some of her offspring stayed with her in the garden but others went off and joined some of the other hens - size never bothered her or them

[ANHBUC]

My bantams have hatched, bantam eggs, quail eggs and turkey eggs with no problems.  Broodies love babies and once they have bonded they don't seem to care what they grow into.

[frenchliving]

Thanks peeps! i will leave her sat there then, cleaned her out today and there are now 14!!!! the other silkie has obviously been going in there laying and she has been stealing then, she can barely cover them all now! the 2 I planted are due by then end of next week I will just remove the rest when this has happened! i didnt think I needed to mark the 2 i planted! xx

[themagicaltoad1]

One of my bantams hatched a huge goose egg last year, she couldn't even cover the egg fully as it was so big compared to her so we didn't really expect it to hatch. Despite her huge baby she was a wonderful mum to the gosling, it was comical watching her trying to cover it to keep it warm because within 2 weeks it was as big as she was.

[grinling]

I found that one of my large hens broke two of the large eggs my broody was on and replaced with her unfertile ones.