Broody with a Purpose

We have 2 Silkie hens that were a gift to us from a friend for keeping her Silkie flock for several months.  We named them Nutmeg and Beanie.  Nutmeg, like the spice and Beanie, like a little black bean.

                                                                                                                                        
Silkies, by nature, are one of the broodiest breeds of chicken there are.  They are known to be excellent Mothers.


We've had Nutmeg and Beanie for about a year now and they go broody every couple months.  They both went broody this past March.  Beanie gave up after about 4 weeks, but Nutmeg kept at it.  She was still on the nest (although it is emptied of eggs every night!) over the weekend.  She's been sitting since March 26th. 

Since the weather is starting to warm up a little more, we decided to let her have a go at Mothering.  Silkies are a bantam breed so they are a little smaller, and because of that, I don't think she could successfully hatch a large clutch, although I could be wrong.  She can cover and therefore, keep warm, 4-6 eggs quite well.  We had 5 laid on Saturday.  I ended up cracking one of them, so we left her the remaining 4.  I put a green mark on them so we can remove any new ones that accumulate each day.

This is our first go at hatching chicks on the homestead so we'll see how it goes.  I'm not expecting it to be 100% successful, but I am expecting it to be a learning experience.  If they hatch in the standard 21 days, we should have some new chickies Memorial Day weekend!

For those who have hatched chicks before - at what point do we separate Nutmeg from the rest of the flock?  What tips do you have for us?

I'm linking up with the Homestead Barn Hop.