Arizona Chickens

[Gallo del Cielo]

I have 5 committed broody silkies. Anyone in need of using them to hatch egglets/chicklets for you before I break them?

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

I have 5 committed broody silkies. Anyone in need of using them to hatch egglets/chicklets for you before I break them?

How did you get them to alternate, black, blond, black.............. ? Must be their fashion sence. :cd lining up in a straight line and color coordinated.

 

[mckenzy]

I have 5 committed broody silkies. Anyone in need of using them to hatch egglets/chicklets for you before I break them?

What makes a hen go broody? How long does it last? How do you "break" a broody hen? This is so interesting to me!

 

[LadyKotaDoria]

Mostly breeding over a long time. It is just in their blood, they lay eggs because they want to be a Moma. Silkies were never breed not to want to be a mother, so the go broody more often and it can actually affect their health if they can't have a bunch of baby's chicks to take care of it is believed by some Silkie People. They were breed for pets, as eye candy, and they are eaten as a delicacy or Medicean. Their eggs and meat are not at the top of the breed goal. In 5,000 years, by now they would no longer tend to be broody, they would be a lot bigger I'd that is the case.

Some breeds rarely go broody and there are some that are not good mothers. Double purpose are just that, meat eggs and more chickens, they will go broody.

As for why? Good question, I would ask the chicken. Some one else may know. All I know it is a genetic clock that just goes off. Why dose a woman want to have a baby.... Or a man for that fact?

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote: I was thinking about the commercial where the guy has on these fuzzy white boots, which turn out to be his kittens...

 

[redrocketrooster]

Aww those broody hens are the cutest! I needed that! Ty

This thread moves faster than I do. To whoever was having troubles with the downed hen? If it may help consider buying pedialyte and adding it into her water. Or you can make your own. The recipes all over various websites. It can be frozen into cubes for ease of use. I like to throw some in the water when it's very hot. Another option is freezing diced fruit or grapes. Tends to cool them down while being a nice treat. B-12 will boost her feed consumption. Can be put in water ir crushed over feed. I read online that laying hens going through sickness/down spells may benefit for extra calcium too.

Sold off the rest of my last hatch except a maran splash. The splash had spaddle leg and I hand fed it for two days but its doing great now. It's my avatar pic. It's in with my d'uccle pullet. PM me if you want it. I have another batch of eggs in the incubator. Silkies, bbs marans, bbs orphs, lavender ameraucanas and wellsummer. My Father is having a hard time keeping up with his lastest hospital bill...of course I didn't find out till a bill collector called my cell phone at work. Stubborn old man. Im going to be selling my russian orloff pullet (7 weeks) and patridge silkie (11 weeks). The partridge is on the small side. Im parting with some nice and some never used animal cages and other related items. Tonight, I will be making an album of all that is for sale. Will include the electronics in the album. Sorry for the spam, just not sure what else to do. I have a ton of car related expenses this month and it couldn't be a worse time.

 

[City farm]

I have 5 committed broody silkies. Anyone in need of using them to hatch egglets/chicklets for you before I break them?

If our girls weren't so late in their laying season I would say yes.. Thanks though.. Wonderful photo.

 

[Mama Hen Chris]

What makes a hen go broody? How long does it last? How do you "break" a broody hen? This is so interesting to me!

It can last longer than the 21 days it takes to hatch an egg. This worked for me when the girls went broody 12 weeks ago...I just locked them out of their coop for the day and that cured them. They had no desire to set. I will see if it will work again. It seems that silkies are a broody chicken moreso than other breeds. So, that is why I offer to have my girls set on eggs for anyone that has fertile eggs they want to hatch instead of using an incubator. If no one wants chicks, I will go ahead and lock them out again and see if it works a second time.
Mama silkie loves setting on any kind of egg...This is Peepers who is now 6 months old.







From mypetchicken.com


Q: What does the word " broody " mean?

​

A: When a hen is broody, that means she wants to hatch her eggs. A breed known as broody has hens that often, individually go broody, and they may not even need eggs to set on to be broody--they may go broody in a nest with no eggs. Further, if there are eggs in the nest, if there is not a rooster in your flock, your hens will not know that their eggs won't be fertile. Your hen will seem to be in a sort of bad temper while she broods, she may pluck out her breast feathers so she can be closer to the eggs, and she may even screech a warning at any birds or people who come near her nest!

Her warning means, "Stay back, this nest is mine for hatching!" Actually, we find it charming when our hens are broody--they are beautiful when they're angry! Once a day or so your hen may emerge from her nest like a whirling dervish: all her feathers will be ruffled out so she will look VERY BIG. She will hold her wings out from her body to give herself even more apparent size. She will rise with a terrible screech, and run at anyone that gets in her way. In my head, I sort of imagine that if my hens were hatching eggs in the wild, all the to-do she'd be making as she gets up would be meant to distract any thing nearby from getting her eggs while she couldn't look after them. Also, she acts so tough, I wonder if some predators would be intimidated by her fierceness?

However, this movement from the nest may last 5 or 10 minutes, because all she's doing is arising to eat and drink (and poo), so she can continue to brood her eggs. When hens are broody, they may only eat once a day, so the normal pecking order doesn't usually apply. She won't need to beat up on the other hens to prove her place. In fact, sometimes the the other birds in your flock will defer to anyone in this state. I can imagine my Faverolles whispering to each other in their French accents "Eeet iz not worth your time, Juliette! Leave zis hen to her madness!" However, you occasionally may have a girl mad at your broody hen since broody girls will usually choose the favorite nest for her production!

Some chicken breeds will go broody every so often and some are less likely to ever go broody. Some will stay broody a long time even with nothing in the nest, while others will snap out of it quickly if they don't have eggs to set on. If your broody hen is actually setting on fertile eggs, it is best to separate her from the rest of the flock, since hens often like to crawl on top of the broody to lay additional eggs in the "safest" nest. If too many eggs get laid underneath her, she may not be able to cover them all, and those that are developing can get too cold and die.

Broodiness is more annoying to human caretakers than to the rest of the flock--hens take it in stride. It can be problematic for humans simply because for one, your broody hen will stop laying while she is broody, because she is trying to hatch. In addition, some broodies will peck at you to keep you from taking the eggs your other hens have laid underneath her (or sometimes she will switch from nest to nest "adopting" eggs for hatching, whether the eggs are fertile or not). However, if the eggs are not fertile, it's not a good idea to let them set eggs, since they eat and drink less when they are broody. Since they don't get off the eggs to dust bathe, for example, they are more vulnerable to infestations of mites and lice. They can lose weight and condition. If you have a broody hen and she is not hatching fertile eggs, try to lift her off the nest at least once (or even several times) in the day so she will get enough to eat and drink. She will get over the broodiness and begin ranging with the rest of the flock again. After a while, she should begin laying eggs again, and you will know that broodiness is over!

 

[Mama Hen Chris]

I was thinking about the commercial where the guy has on these fuzzy white boots, which turn out to be his kittens...

That is a funny commercial. The three silkies (#1,3,5) originally came from you to Noel and then to my house.

 

[Mama Hen Chris]

How did you get them to alternate, black, blond, black.............. ? Must be their fashion sence.

lining up in a straight line and color coordinated.

That is how I found them. They are now in a huge "tribble" pile. Their position changes every day. They know how to color coordinate.