Broody silkie - is it a problem?

[amartinlb]

I raised the two silkies so I could hatch eggs in the spring from breeders of chicken types I want more of. My splash silkie has gone broody. She is sitting on a nest non-stop.

Problem:
# 1 I do not want any chicks because the only rooster is a banty gold neck d'uccle
# 2 it's winter
# 3 She is sitting on 2 golf balls and an egg - I take the egg daily- stays on golf balls.

Sometimes she switches to the next nest - also has 2 golf balls and what ever the other chickens lay which I take.

Will it hurt her health to be broody? I pick her up and put her in the run, she drinks some water, does not appear to stop to eat and goes back on a nest. It's very cute but I don't want her sick. I don't want to remove the golf balls because all my hens lay in the nests next to golf balls keeping everything clean, will she just tire of it on her own when nothing hatches?

 

[seismic wonder2]

silkies go broody at the drop of a hat.
I don;t leave anything for mine to sit on (hatchin turds as my dad used to say...)
Anyway, it's perfectly natural for them to go broody for three or more weeks at a time. then two weeks later...back broody again...

Just make sure she has access to food and fresh water at all times. She will decide when it's time to eat, drink, and stretch her legs.

 

[Skyesrocket]

Chances are that if she is broody that you won't be able to change her mind. I tried for a couple of weeks to get a silkie broody to give up, but she won. I took the eggs, removed the nest nothing worked. So she is happily sitting on eggs again. I didn't want a winter hatch either.

 

[onecent]

problem?

no problem, you just wont get any eggs

, i re homed all my standards so i cleaned out the larger run & coop, and put my silkies in it, i go out to check on them, i didnt see them in the run so i go to the coop, and i opened the doors, i thought my silkies were dead! they were all in the floor flattened out laying on eggs, each one was laying on an egg! umm, that was quite a site

but cute, (looked like a shag carpet in the coop) ive only seen them in nest boxes, i didnt know they flattened out like that!

 

[ND Sue]

Onecent,
Can you post a pic of that? I think silkies are so cute and would love to see this flattened out egg sitting that they do!

 

[ChickenCop]

not silkies but I had a pair of bantam cochin hens sitting on eggs this summer. They had access to water and food and I lost both of them...I didnt know what was going on but I ran across my neighbor, who has been raising exhibition birds for 35 yrs and she set me straight. If a bird is determined to brood be sure to keep an eye on them cause they will become so focused on brooding they will not eat or drink and die on you....
Again this was maybe an isolated incident but if I catch a hen going broody on me I get her out of the nest and get her moving around. If the weather is warm you cant even imagine the heat that they are putting off.
Of course if she's laying on a clutch of eggs i give her her time to hatch them out but not much longer than that.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

I had a silkie hen who was "hatching turds" for 9 weeks so I finally let her hatch 3 eggs that I had purchased to incubate. I tried everything to break the brood. However I have another silkie hen that will be broody for about a week, sit on all the big girls eggs...even though we take them out from under her everyday...and then be out and about with the others for several weeks before trying again.

I agree that the best thing you can do is kick her out of the coop completely and free range with the others. Do a search for "breaking broody hen" and you'll find some great threads with ideas that have worked for other folks. One is to hang a wire crate and put her in that for a couple of days. The circulating air decreases her "butt" temperature and will help break a brood.

good luck!!

 

[onecent]

Quote:
yes, i will try to get a pic, i went out today, and they are playing "these are my eggs!" if one gets up, the other one takes the eggs! what these girls have done is instead of using the nest boxes, they are on the floor of the coop, i have hay on the floor, and they have made a "community"next right in the middle, but what is strange is how they lay flat or spread out on the eggs, and they really do go into a trance when they go broody!

 

[Southernbelle]

They don't have a problem keeping a nest warm in winter. When I had upteen silkies, I let them hatch year round (mostly because I couldn't change their minds

) The newly hatched babies will stay plenty warm with Mama and don't need a heat lamp. Just have chick starter and water at the chick's level post-hatching.

Mutt eggs are the best choice for a first-time broody. I say give her the D'Uccle mix eggs and let her have her practice round now, so when she hatches something you really want this spring, she's a little more experienced.

Anyway this adorable chick is a cross between a Silkie and a D'Uccle and I think it's the cutest thing ever! My friend hatched her and I "borrowed" the picture.