How many full-sized/large eggs can my bantam hen adopt & successfully brood/hatch? She wants to be a mama BAD!

[CasaCasarrubiasChickens]

Hey, friends!

Happy Friday! I’m back again with yet another question for you fine folks! Warning you now, this is a little long because I am a rambler. Sorry!

My only current adult hen, Tiffany, who is a bantam, went broody again. She lost her mate (very old, odd looking, mean silkie roo) about 1 1/2-2 months ago. I have found her sitting on LARGE stashes of eggs twice now. First it was twelve eggs, the second time it was SIXTEEN! She hid them in strange places, too. Took a while to find her. She probably knew I’d “steal her babies.” But, anyways… her mate passed away, so the eggs she was attempting to brood were infertile. 100% positive about this as I double checked/cracked 2 eggs from each and none showed signs of having been fertilized.
So, after finding 2nd stash I got in touch with a local farm and told them about my broody’s situation. I offered to pay them for fertile eggs, but they were very kind and gave me 12 fertile eggs for free! All different kinds, too! Awesome, huh?

My only problem now is that Tiffany is a bantam, and the eggs are all full-sized/large. When I brought them home, before I could even lay them in her basket, she jumped out and started trying to ”collect” all 12 of them. Me, not knowing any better, decided to allow her to try to brood all 12.
Well… she cracked 1 yesterday, 1 today. This morning when I found 2nd cracked egg, I removed it and an additional 3 others. So, she currently has 7 eggs remaining. At first, she spread over all 12 EASY! But she got kind of lazy last night, and now just covers what she can. The 7 left with her seem to be covered nice and well, but I am checking on her every hour or two to kind of see who’s getting warm and who’s not. We’re kinda just using the process of elimination lol.

ANYWAY, I’m sure that’s probably enough background for y’all lol… these are my questions!
1.) How many full-sized/large eggs can a broody bantam hen cover and hatch successfully?
2.) If some eggs got warm, then cold, then warm again between Tuesday 05/16/23 and today Friday 05/19/23… will these eggs still be viable? It’s been approximately 58 hours total now that she has had the eggs.
3.) This one is a little off the wall… but I’m curious as to what kind of chicken my broody bantam baby girl is? I LOVE her like “normal people” love their dogs lol. She’s just about my FAVORITE pet ever. She cuddles, asks for pets, and even sort of “purrs” when she’s happy it’s the BEST thing. I’m curious as to what her breed might be because I would love to have more little Tiffany’s one day. I will post photos below once I post this thread!

I have learned a LOT since joining here, but I believe I am still at the beginner level in the chicken raising world. This is my second clutch with Tiffany. Her first clutch (which was her’s and her now deceased silkie mate’s babies) went pretty sour... on hatch day, only 1 baby survived. It honestly broke my heart, because I was INVESTED in that process. I was checking on her every few hours, checked the babies every few days up until “no more touching” for the last few days came around, and then I just watched! Losing all those chicks just about broke my heart. I really want to avoid having anything else like that happen again..

With that being said, thank you all for any answers/advice you can offer! I hope you all have a great weekend!

 

[FunClucks]

I would only leave with her the amount of eggs she can cover while sitting. I would remove probably about half of those eggs (use your judgement) and put them in an incubator. After a week or so, remove any that aren't developing in the incubator, but leave her eggs alone. Hatch them like normal for incubator eggs, and they should hatch right around the time you expect the ones under her to hatch. Slip the chicks under her right before bedtime once they're steady on their feet. That way you know she'll get at least some eggs to hatch, and you won't have to worry about them all getting cold. And you can probably still get her to raise the babies - she seems super committed.

Good luck!!!

 

[-Chanticleer-]

Hey, friends!

Happy Friday! I’m back again with yet another question for you fine folks! Warning you now, this is a little long because I am a rambler. Sorry!

My only current adult hen, Tiffany, who is a bantam, went broody again. She lost her mate (very old, odd looking, mean silkie roo) about 1 1/2-2 months ago. I have found her sitting on LARGE stashes of eggs twice now. First it was twelve eggs, the second time it was SIXTEEN! She hid them in strange places, too. Took a while to find her. She probably knew I’d “steal her babies.” But, anyways… her mate passed away, so the eggs she was attempting to brood were infertile. 100% positive about this as I double checked/cracked 2 eggs from each and none showed signs of having been fertilized.
So, after finding 2nd stash I got in touch with a local farm and told them about my broody’s situation. I offered to pay them for fertile eggs, but they were very kind and gave me 12 fertile eggs for free! All different kinds, too! Awesome, huh?

My only problem now is that Tiffany is a bantam, and the eggs are all full-sized/large. When I brought them home, before I could even lay them in her basket, she jumped out and started trying to ”collect” all 12 of them. Me, not knowing any better, decided to allow her to try to brood all 12.
Well… she cracked 1 yesterday, 1 today. This morning when I found 2nd cracked egg, I removed it and an additional 3 others. So, she currently has 7 eggs remaining. At first, she spread over all 12 EASY! But she got kind of lazy last night, and now just covers what she can. The 7 left with her seem to be covered nice and well, but I am checking on her every hour or two to kind of see who’s getting warm and who’s not. We’re kinda just using the process of elimination lol.

ANYWAY, I’m sure that’s probably enough background for y’all lol… these are my questions!
1.) How many full-sized/large eggs can a broody bantam hen cover and hatch successfully?
2.) If some eggs got warm, then cold, then warm again between Tuesday 05/16/23 and today Friday 05/19/23… will these eggs still be viable? It’s been approximately 58 hours total now that she has had the eggs.
3.) This one is a little off the wall… but I’m curious as to what kind of chicken my broody bantam baby girl is? I LOVE her like “normal people” love their dogs lol. She’s just about my FAVORITE pet ever. She cuddles, asks for pets, and even sort of “purrs” when she’s happy it’s the BEST thing. I’m curious as to what her breed might be because I would love to have more little Tiffany’s one day. I will post photos below once I post this thread!

I have learned a LOT since joining here, but I believe I am still at the beginner level in the chicken raising world. This is my second clutch with Tiffany. Her first clutch (which was her’s and her now deceased silkie mate’s babies) went pretty sour... on hatch day, only 1 baby survived. It honestly broke my heart, because I was INVESTED in that process. I was checking on her every few hours, checked the babies every few days up until “no more touching” for the last few days came around, and then I just watched! Losing all those chicks just about broke my heart. I really want to avoid having anything else like that happen again..

With that being said, thank you all for any answers/advice you can offer! I hope you all have a great weekend!

Did the eggs hatch?