Broody in 20 degree temps!!

[CK Chickadilly]

I have 2 Silkie/Cochin girls that have recently started laying eggs.

Now all of a sudden they are sitting in the nest boxes & won't come out. At first I thought they were cold but now I know that they are being broody.

They are sitting on NOTHING! I put my hand in to check for eggs & they lightly grrr & lift up for me but there is nothing there & they have not laid an egg in the last few days. They actually prefer to lay on the ISA browns eggs after they them in the morning cause I have been puting them in the cage at night.

They will come out of the nest boxes to get their morning treats & then back into the boxes they go for the rest of the day. They want to sleep in there too.

I was making them get out of the boxes but they just hop back in.

Isn't this a bit odd to become broody in the freezing temps?

What should I do? Should I let them go on being broody or should I lock them in a cage? Silly girls!

Won't they be starving themselves or is their morning treat enough for them?

Any help or advise would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[wenitolduso]

My breeder said to put their bumms on the cold ground and thet will stop bruding.

 

[CK Chickadilly]

I have tried a couple of times....kicing them out of the boxes but they just go back in.

Now it's time to go out to do night time chores & I'll bet they are in there yet. Should I kick them out & put them in the coop with the others....again????

Then I go out in the morning & they are back in the boxes......Good Grief!

 

[beakkeeper]

Put them in quarantine--locked in a small area with an "unforgiving" surface that they won't want to sit on. If the lack of egg production isn't an issue, then you could just let them be broody...

 

[SunAngel]

I have 2 Silkies doing the same thing. The blue started it and now the black one is following her. Sometimes I find them smushed into the same nesting box, but usually each one is in a different bottom box. Which of course happens to be the 2 favorite boxes of all my bantams. I think it is effecting all of their egglaying. I keep tossing both of them out of the boxes and outside, several times a day, but it doesn't seem to be helping much. I hope they give up soon, I have no eggs for them to hatch!

 

[CK Chickadilly]

Quote:
Yeah, I don't have any eggs for them to hatch either & I really don't want them to in this horrible cold & we are getting another snow & wind storm right now.

I also don't want to discourage their broodiness because I would love them to be broody in the right temps. I haven't been out to do chores yet but I bet they are back in the boxes after I took them out & put them in their cage last night to roost with the others.

silly chookers!

 

[joebryant]

I got my last infertile egg out from under my broody silkie two days ago. She is now on two white, wooden eggs. If my 31-week-old Orpingtons were laying (#%&^%) I'd put a few real eggs under her just for the heck of it. However, if ifs were skiffs, we could all go sailing. We're leaving for Florida Sunday and will be gone for a week. I'll have to deal with my little silkie-in-a-stupor after I return. Good luck with yours.
EDIT: Think I'll remove the two wooden eggs from under her today. That might bring her out of it (?).

 

[CK Chickadilly]

Boy! I don't know.....my 2 were out there laying on the ISA's jumbo eggs...those eggs sure were warm. I went to take them out from under the girls & they fluff out & growl & lift up......goof balls.

They did come out to eat their morning snack & then hopped right back into a different nest box.

Should I keep kicking them out? Or just let them sit there? If my OEG banties were laying now I could slip a couple of those to them to hatch. ...they are fertilized. But they aren't laying lately. GRRRR

What to do?