broody silky...a problem?

[clucky2]

I have 1 silky raised with 5 other girls, all standards. She's about 7 months. She's become broody. When the others are ranging in the yard, she stays in the nestbox. She gets sunshine on her there, but she's just so inactive. I think she's eating/drinking, but spends most of her time sitting. I took her off the nest twice yesterday, put her on the ground near the others and she stood there as if in a trance or too stiff to move. She eventually did, while giving the dog some aggresive warnings straight to the face!! Very funny. He needed that. Sooo, any thoughts? Should I just leave her alone? My gut tells me she needs to socialize!

 

[shelleyd2008]

Just leave her alone, they get very determined when setting/hatching eggs! She most likely won't starve herself, and making her get off the nest too much can make the eggs go bad. You do have a roo, right?

 

[clucky2]

No roo. I'm just in it for the good eggs. Disturbing her too much feels "disrespectful" to her intsincts. But without babies to raise will she just spend her life on a nest, sitting in vain!?

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
Yes, she probably will. I had one silkie this summer that kept letting the other hens steal her babies. She must have set for 2 1/2 months straight!! She was just starting to stay off the nest longer, and the stupid dog killed her

But they can set themselves to death.

If you don't have, or can't get, fertile eggs for her, you can get her a few day-old chicks when it's close to 3 weeks time that she's been setting. If you don't want to get chicks for her, you need to try and break her up. I've never done it myself, but you can do a search on here of the different methods of breaking up a broody hen. Good luck!

 

[clucky2]

Wow..okay,good. I'm considering giving her some fertile eggs next spring. What fun! In the meantime, I'll look into breaking a broody hen. Another dynamic going on is 2 of my otner hens are a bit bossy with her when I remove her from the nest and put her with them in the yard. Chasing....a few head pecks. I want to protect her and also avoid it from escalating. Anyone ever use a squirt gun to "disapline" thier chickens!?

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

I had a broody silkie that set for 90 days on an empty nest before I finally broke down and bought some silkie eggs for her to hatch. Now she is a happy mama of 5 chicks and not at all broody anymore

Folks with silkies will tell you that sometimes they just won't stop unless you either break the brood yourself or let them hatch eggs.