[silverteen]

i have 4 eggs which are being sat on by 2!! silkies in the same nest box. they are due to hatch on thursday. I candelled last night and seen movement in 3 of the 4 eggs and even heard chirping from one.

I dont the hens to fight over the chicks so would it be ok to seperate the two broodie silkies that are sitting on the eggs and place two eggs under each of them, and seperate an area for both of them, so they can not get to each others eggs/chicks by putting up a chicken wire partition in the coop and give them a seperate nest box each?

or would they both be ok with the hatching chicks and mother them together?

thanks

[Spana]

I have 2 at the moment that have done just as you describe. They started off side by side and slowly the two nests merged.

They hatched 8 chicks between them and they are all running about happily  together. The chicks dont seem to mind which mother broods them and they have 2 very fierce mothers protecting them. Woe betide any cat that so much as looks at the chicks, they've even had a go at me when i put their chick crumbs down

The chicks are about 2 weeks old now and growing well. Your Silkies should make excellent mothers. If they were mine i would leave them together - I have several hens that always sit with their best friend - and just keep a watchful eye on them when they first bring the chicks out.

Thinking about it, I've even had it happen with a Silver Appleyard duck and a wild Mallard :happy:

[silverteen]

thanks for the reply, i think ill leave them to it, ill make the nest area bigger by taking out a divider so they dont get squashed.

my coop is one of the little house type ones you see and its raised about a foot and a half off the ground, im worried that the little chicks may fall off the ramp when they go down it the first few times, and struggle to get back up it too, am i just worrying or will they be ok?

sorry im a newbie with chicks. (only hatched some before in an incubator and looked after them until they were bigger and stronger).

[Spana]

Dont worry too much over them, you've done it the easy way this time. :happy:

My  together nests were 10ft of the ground and they all jumped down ok. If the chicks do fall off the ramp they should be fine. Keep an eye on them going up at first, silkie chicks are tiny so may struggle when newly hatched but will soon manage it no sweat. :happy:

Good luck with them. Hope you have a nice little brood soon

[silverteen]

thanks spana,

Just popped home and took the divider out of the nest box and found the egg that was chirping has now been pipped! 

anda second egg was now chirping. today is only day 20.

[Spana]

second egg was now chirping. today is only day 20.

day 20 is perfect for what is happening :happy:

[cheekychick22]

Its so exciting when they hatch and u see this shy little beak pop out from under mom

[silverteen]

morning,

woke up this morning and had a little cute black chick under her mums wing.

unfortunately last night another hatched but when i checked later it was dead under the broody. what could of caused this? it was out of the shell but didnt survive?

do i need to show the little chick ater and food or will the broody do it?

the other eggs have cracked now so hopefully when i get home there will be some more

[Sassy]

You really need to leave the broodies to it. Do keep an eye on them as it is not unknown for them to fight over each others chicks

[joyfull]

the reason for the dead chick could be that it was just too exhausted from trying to get out of it's shell.
You may find that the more dominant hen will take over most of the work of looking after all the chicks and teach the other broody how to do it or stop the other one from coming close to the chicks once she has got them all. It is because of the second outcome that I would always recommend keeping broody hens separate.