Brooding.. how to remove eggs?

[fancyham]

I apologize if this has been asked before, I didn't see anything on my quick search.
I have a brooding Silkie and she seems to gather all of the eggs under her, there is actually no more room for them! I know she must get up for food and water but I haven't seen it for a few days. Is there anyway to get them from under her? Also, will the eggs be okay to eat?

 

[sourland]

If she is brooding, the eggs are developing and will contain developing embryos - I am not a fan of chicken balut. Just lift her up and remove the eggs if you do not want her to incubate them.

 

[fancyham]

They are not fertile eggs. I feel bad lifting her up and interrupting her! She looks like she is in this deep trance.

 

[True Patriot]

If they're not fertile just remove them. If you don't intend for her to hatch any you should try to break her. Staying broody puts a lot of stress on their system, and can lead to health problems.

 

[aart]

If you don't want her to hatch, it's best to break her broodiness.
The longer you wait the longer it may take, and silkies can be serial broodies.

I used to let them out a couple times a day, but now just once a day in the evening(you don't have to) and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two. Or take her out of crate daily very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate.
Chunk of 2x4 was added to floor after pic was taken.

 

[Ridgerunner]

If they are not fertile eggs they should be good to eat. They haven't started developing. The risk is that bacteria can get inside the egg and develop, whether the egg is fertile or not. Hens can lay eggs in a hidden nest for two weeks and then incubate them for three weeks (ducks and turkeys for longer) and it is pretty rare for one to go bad. In any case with our eggs I think it is a good idea to break them in a separate bowl before you use them, whether a broody is involved or not. If they have started to go bad you will smell them.

When I was a kid many decades ago one of my chores was to collect the eggs. If we had a broody hen we'd mark the eggs we wanted her to hatch and every day after they had all laid I'd check under the broody to remove any that were laid that day. They were still good to eat. Some broody hens could be pretty brutal, most would peck and that could hurt. But I'd pick them out of the nest and toss them on the coop floor anyway. No way was I going to tell Dad or Mom that I was afraid of a chicken.

I don't know what your nests look like or how hard it is to pull that broody Silkie out. It may be a bit hard to physically remove her so you may need to be a bit careful, but it will not hurt her emotionally to take her off the nest and remove the eggs. You do not need to pipe in Dr. Phil or bring out the big guns and show her reruns of Oprah to mend her psyche. It will not harm her mentally though she won't be happy. You might want to wear long sleeves and gloves if she is protective of her nest, just be careful you do not physically harm her if the opening to the nest is tight. You might just want to reach in there an raise her up.

If you do not want more chicks I'd break her from being broody for various reasons. It is less disruptive to you and the flock, it gets her back to producing eggs instead of free-loading, and avoids risk to her health if she decides to stay broody for months. I use a raised wire bottomed cage but don't have Aart's spare time to hang around waiting for a chicken to decide if she is going back to the nest or not so I leave her locked up 72 hours before I let her out. (I've teased @aart about that before).

If you want more chicks you can find fertile eggs to let her hatch. Or you can get day old chicks to let her raise. If you haven't done this before let us know what you want to do and we may be able to help. But in any case I think you would be wise to invest in a broody buster, you will probably need it.

Good luck! I hope my teasing about Oprah did not offend you.

 

[aart]

I use a raised wire bottomed cage but don't have Aart's spare time to hang around waiting for a chicken to decide if she is going back to the nest or not so I leave her locked up 72 hours before I let her out. (I've teased @aart about that before).

Yeah, I don't do that so much anymore.
(no longer do a lot of things I did the first year or two)
More like once a day....

Or take her out of crate daily very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate.

Tho had a serial broody this summer I left for 3 days at a time(had to break her 6 times)...didn't let her out for an evening stroll until I stopped hearing that clucky clucking.

 

[True Patriot]

You do not need to pipe in Dr. Phil or bring out the big guns and show her reruns of Oprah to mend her psyche.

 

[fancyham]

Not much room left!

 

[chickens really]

Not much room left!

Lift her up and remove the eggs get her into a Broody breaker. Throw the eggs out..