Broody on Not Broody, that is the question?

[thegreatfandango]

I have a new silkie that is 11 months old I got a few days ago. Since I got her, I have allowed her to free range, but instead of free ranging the day away (like our other Silkie) she sits next to the coop and waits to get in. She gets up occasionally to eat or drink and frantically look for a way into the coop. The last two nights I put her in the coop she has immediately gone into the nesting box. Broody or just new and scared? She also seems agitated if that helps.

 

[Country Heart]

Silkie = broody

You have a volunteer mama on your hands.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Not necessarily. Most silkies don't roost - or need lower roosts. She may be sleeping in the nest box because she can't get anywhere else. Is she on the nest during the day at all? Is she laying? Is she making any weird clucking sounds and tucking eggs under her?

That being said, silkies are a VERY broody breed, so it is possible.

 

[thegreatfandango]

So I put eggs under her, she sits on them for a while. Leaves the nest and forgets them, then freaks out 13 hours later. She then goes in sits on them again and proceeds to roll the so often she cracks them all. She then forgets about them and she wants to be in the coop with my pullets. So that's where she is now. Her personality is erratic and she is not friendly. She won't sit, she won't lay, she's not nice anyway, so she will soon go away!