Broody Silkie - am I prolonging her broodiness?

[5OneChick]

First year chicken mom here. My first broody hen, a sweet Silkie named Fluffy.
First 2 days thought she was egg bound; gave warm epson baths.
Day 3 gave her 3 warm fresh laid eggs.
At 8 days pretty sure one of the standards pushed her out of nesting box, laid an egg then left. Fluffy settled in a different nesting box with no eggs.
By the time i realized what happened, the original 3 eggs we gave her were cold and abandoned, so I discarded them.
Gave her a freshly laid egg to sit on.
Then 3 days later she moved again.
She’s eating fairly well
Do I just let her brood with no eggs?
Do I give her fresh laid egg if she moves again? I don’t need more chicks but thought I’d let her do her thing.
She’s now almost 2 weeks in, will she give up at 3-ish weeks?
Appreciate all input.

 

[Debbie292d]

A broody hen needs no eggs to sit on to be broody. Giving a broody hen eggs may cause her to then "sit" on those eggs intending to hatch them. Then the eggs are gone. Nothing really makes a difference to a broody hen. Yes, giving them eggs off and on, will most likely extend the broodiness.

Generally, the rule of thumb of how long a broody hen will stay broody is about three weeks, the number of weeks it takes to hatch.

If you wanted to actually let her hatch some eggs, I'd move her or the other hen so that stops happening.

In the winter, there's not too much I can do about my hens being broody, but in the other months, I do not tolerate it. Their health suffers too much and they come ragged. Every morning I see if any hens are broody and haul them out to the dog kennel on the other side of the yard. She will spend their day there, then at night I open the gate and she returns to the coop. Each morning, the same thing. It takes about 4 days.

 

[5OneChick]

A broody hen needs no eggs to sit on to be broody. Giving a broody hen eggs may cause her to then "sit" on those eggs intending to hatch them. Then the eggs are gone. Nothing really makes a difference to a broody hen. Yes, giving them eggs off and on, will most likely extend the broodiness.

Generally, the rule of thumb of how long a broody hen will stay broody is about three weeks, the number of weeks it takes to hatch.

If you wanted to actually let her hatch some eggs, I'd move her or the other hen so that stops happening.

In the winter, there's not too much I can do about my hens being broody, but in the other months, I do not tolerate it. Their health suffers too much and they come ragged. Every morning I see if any hens are broody and haul them out to the dog kennel on the other side of the yard. She will spend their day there, then at night I open the gate and she returns to the coop. Each morning, the same thing. It takes about 4 days.

Thanks. The method described doesn’t seem brutal like some of the other ways to break a broody hen.
Hubby was afraid that I might be prolonging her to sit. Thought he was just fussing bc she was eating best out of his hands lol. Dang, now I get to say those words, “you were right” then he’ll pretend not to hear me just so I’ll repeat myself.

 

[Yardmom]

Just found this thread. Did your hen break her broodiness.

 

[5OneChick]

Just found this thread. Did your hen break her broodiness.

Still in the ending process of breaking her broodiness. The last three days she has been spending more time outside the coop, with our help.
I waited until 22 days after the last eggs we gave her to sit on. Then we removed them from the nesting box and removed her from the small separate coop that we had her in. She did seem to lose some weight and felt like skin and bones to me. Although my husband insist that she was loving the room service she was getting eating out of his hand from the nesting box, lol.