Do I keep a Broody hen with NO eggs OR Re-home her???

[StephanieD]

I have a broody silkie, AGAIN! She went broody for weeks back in March, got her 6 fertile eggs, within a few days 4 of the 6 hatched. She was a great mom! Now chicks are 14 weeks old and she is broody again. Layed eggs for 2 weeks and now has been broody again for 2 weeks. So, do I just let her continue to be broody ( I can NOT get more chicks!! ) and hope she snaps out of it? Or do I rehome her to someone who wants a broody hen? Maybe this answer is a no-brainer to some, but I do love all my girls

 

[aubreynoramarie]

why not hatch out more chicks and sell them? turn a bigger profit off of your broody girl?

 

[gritsar]

Option #3, you can attempt to break her. Just do a search here on BYC, keywords "breaking broody" and you'll find lots of threads on the subject.

 

[Lollipop]

I`m a fan of letting nature run it`s course. You certainly can`t miss Silkie eggs for breakfast and she`ll be finished soon enough. Your call........Pop

 

[sourland]

Quote:
X 2. This is a very viable choice if you want to keep her.

 

[Southernbelle]

Silkies are one of the broodiest breeds ever. Mine lay for a while, go broody, raise chicks, start to lay again, go broody, raise chicks, etc They never stop! If you don't want to deal with it over and over, you might be happier rehomeing her.

I like the idea of raising chicks and selling them. That's what I do with all the chicks my broodies raise. I wait until they're about 7 weeks old, once she's done raising them and I sell the pullets for $5 each and give the roos away for free.

 

[StephanieD]

Quote:
I am not too interested in getting eggs for her as we are a back-yard secret, per say. I love the chicks but I worried alot about them (predators, neighbors, the kids playing outside and having an "accident" with them, the list could go on). If I lived on a farm I would keep adding to the flock.

 

[Judy]

I usually give my broodies eggs or day old chicks, but when I don't want to do that, I just take them off the nest and chase them a little til they start doing chicken-y things. At least they don't lose quite so much weight or get joint problems, etc. Usually after a couple of weeks, sometimes sooner, they give up. I'm usually in the coop around 3 times a day. I've never had any luck with the wire cage (I hate caging my birds anyway) and haven't tried ice.

On the other hand, I don't have Silkies, and they are a lot broodier than the few I have who go broody once or twice a year. I have two broodies now, one is 4 years old and has been broody one other time, the other is a pullet who just started laying a couple of months ago.