Do these chickens just know what to do?!

[Ridgerunner]

Ok.. so I'm clearly new to this chicken world, so please bear with me!
I have 3 silkie girls who are all laying regularly. I've never had a broody episode that I've heard others talk about. Mine just lay their eggs and leave the coop. So how does this work if I want them to hatch the eggs? If I just don't collect the eggs will the naturally do it, or does it just not work like that?!

Silkies are known to go broody a lot. That does not mean every Silkie will go broody a lot, it means some go broody a lot. Some will never go broody. You have three. I don't know if any one of yours will never go broody or will go broody tomorrow. With living animals you just don't know.

Three different times I added one fake egg a day to a nest. I used golf balls. I let the number gradually get up to 12 and them left them there another two weeks. My hens do go broody. One time I did that I had a hen go broody, but that was on a different nest. I don't think that counts.

One time when I was away my chicken sitter did not collect the eggs. When I got back 4 days later the eggs had piled up and I found 2 hens on two different nests. I got back after dark so I took all the eggs away so I could start fresh. There was only one golf ball in either nest. The nest morning no hens were acting broody. If I had left the eggs on the nests another few days would one of them or both switched to full broody mode? I'll never know. I do know that neither one was fully broody when I removed the eggs.

What I take from this is that you cannot make a hen go broody by letting the eggs pile up. You might be able to influence one to go broody if she is leaning that way to start with, but if one does go broody it may just be coincidence. I find the method extremely unreliable.

I personally don't like to leave real eggs in the coop overnight, it might attract egg eating predators. But if a hen is broody she gets eggs. The only time I've had a snake eat eggs out from under a broody hen was in the middle of the day.

Where are you located? Are you north or south of the equator? Hens go broody a lot more in summer than winter. And I also wonder how old they are. Some will go broody their pullet year but most tend to wait until they are a year old or older.

I see nothing wrong with letting eggs pile up to try to influence one to go broody. Mark them so you know which ones they are. If you do get a broody, collect the eggs you want her to hatch, mark them, and toss the old ones. If you want, we can discuss what to do if you do get a broody.

If you do try it, let us know how it works out either way. And good luck.

 

[triciayoung]

Isn't that just how it goes? You have silkies you want to be broody but are not - I have silkies I don't want to be broody and are. I have three hen silkies and one of them seems to go broody every other week. However, as others have said, leaving eggs (fake ones), in a nest seems to trigger broodiness. I have 9-hens and 2-roos all together. I have 8-nesting boxes - and of course, everyone wants to use 3 of them. If I do not get out there every few hours and there are more than one egg in any given nesting box - this seems to be too tempting for the Silkies and they want to go sit on them.

 

[Ticktockchooks]

Thank you for all your advice guys! I left the eggs in the coop for a few days, and when I went out this morning, my hen is sitting on them, and she's still on them now at 1pm. So we shall see!

For those asking questions- I am in Queensland, Australia, so it's summer here. My hens are only 6 months old, so maybe a bit young yet.. I'll let you know how it goes!

 

[Ticktockchooks]

Thank you for all your advice guys! I left the eggs in the coop for a few days, and when I went out this morning, my hen is sitting on them, and she's still on them now at 1pm. So we shall see!

For those asking questions- I am in Queensland, Australia, so it's summer here. My hens are only 6 months old, so maybe a bit young yet.. I'll let you know how it goes!

 

[Chicken poppy]

Ok.. so I'm clearly new to this chicken world, so please bear with me!
I have 3 silkie girls who are all laying regularly. I've never had a broody episode that I've heard others talk about. Mine just lay their eggs and leave the coop. So how does this work if I want them to hatch the eggs? If I just don't collect the eggs will the naturally do it, or does it just not work like that?!

Some chickens are very broody prone, others not so much. It can take a while for them to go broody to, mine personally have only gone broody after their first year.

 

[Chicken poppy]

If your hen hisses, growls, bites, pecks or fluffs up theres a very good chance shes broody. Best of luck!

 

[Ticktockchooks]

If your hen hisses, growls, bites, pecks or fluffs up theres a very good chance shes broody. Best of luck!

Well she was sitting on the eggs when I went down this morning at 6.30, and still there at 1pm. At 2pm she was off the eggs giving herself a dustbath. At 4pm she was back on the eggs, and has been on them ever since... BUT.. she laid an egg! I didn't this she was supposed to do that?!

 

[Chicken poppy]

Well she was sitting on the eggs when I went down this morning at 6.30, and still there at 1pm. At 2pm she was off the eggs giving herself a dustbath. At 4pm she was back on the eggs, and has been on them ever since... BUT.. she laid an egg! I didn't this she was supposed to do that?!

Yep, they do. Mine always do.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Well she was sitting on the eggs when I went down this morning at 6.30, and still there at 1pm. At 2pm she was off the eggs giving herself a dustbath. At 4pm she was back on the eggs, and has been on them ever since...

My test to determine if a hen is broody enough to get hatching eggs is that she has to spend two consecutive nights on the nest instead of her normal sleeping spot. All those other things are signs she might be broody but I've had hens do all that and not really be committed. So far the two consecutive night test has not failed me but it could. With living animals you just don't know.

she laid an egg! I didn't this she was supposed to do that?!

With living animals there can always be exceptions because anything can happen. Sometimes a hen does not switch to full broody mode immediately, I've had some be unsure for almost two weeks before finally deciding one way or the other. That's why the two consecutive nights test. It's possible she is still undecided. Or maybe she got one last egg out of her system.

Sometimes other hens lay in the nest with the broody, that happens a lot. Broody hens have been known to carry an egg from another nest back to their nest. That might make you think she is laying herself.

Before a hen even starts laying she accumulates a bunch of fat. That fat is put there so if the hen or pullet goes broody she can live mostly on that fat so she can spend most of her time on the nest instead of having to search for food or water. A hen will lose weight while broody but it is fat put there for a reason. Most hens have enough excess fat that they can stay broody for at least five weeks, many even longer. If a hen is using part of the fat to produce eggs while broody she will reduce how long she can safely remain broody.

Also, an egg takes about 21 days of incubation to hatch. If one is laid after she goes broody and has started incubating that egg is not going to hatch with the others. Even if it develops it will die when she leaves the nest with the other chicks. If enough eggs accumulate so she can't cover them all then one or some will get pushed out from under her, cool off, and probably die. Then they get pushed back under her and others get pushed out to die. You usually don't get a good hatch if the hen cannot cover all of the eggs.

For these reasons it makes sense for a hen to stop laying when she goes broody. They evolved to survive, if continuing to lay when they go broody was common they would probably have gone extinct before they were domesticated. So the vast majority of hens do stop laying when they go broody. They have retained that instinct.

We have domesticated them. We've bred them to lay a lot (usually not Silkies though) as opposed to just lay a clutch and many people feed them a really rich diet all year around. We've messed with their instincts. I'd consider a hen that laid while broody "broken" and not natural but with living animals anything can happen.

Do you want her to hatch eggs if she is really broody? You have two basic ways to do that, you can let her incubate and hatch with the flock or you can isolate her for all or part of that. If you want her to hatch let us know which and we can help you get ready for that.

 

[ChooksinChoppers]

I have had a hen go broody because she could hear cheeping from our brooder (store bought chicks) I swear it took all of a day. So go to Tractor supply and record those babies then play it back to her