First egg!

[kelly77]

One of our Silkie hens layed her first egg today. We have a Rooster that has been mating with them so it must be fertile? She didnot stay on the egg though and it is 55 degrees out, I grabbed it and her and brought them into the house in a box but she doesn't know what to do. Should we just eat the egg and wait for one of them to do it naturally or get an incubator? We want to raise some chicks but I need more information.

 

[AlienChick]

Eat the egg and wait for one of your hens to go broody naturally OR buy an incubator.
Congrats on your first egg!!!

 

[kelly77]

I think we are going to do that. We donot have any older hens around so how will they know what to do?

 

[AlienChick]

When a hen goes broody, it's just a natural thing.
It's not learned from an older hen.
It's actually difficult to break her out of the broodiness.
I have lots of hens that go broody throughout the year and I enjoy that because I grab as many eggs as they can possibly keep warm and allow them to raise the chicks.
Earlier this year I discovered a nest in the bushes of about 20-30 Guinea eggs.
I grabbed a bunch and placed them underneath whatever broody hens I had at the time and they raised them very well.
It's funny to see the little bitty d'Uccle hens with 6 or 7 Guinea keets (larger than she is) following behind her.

 

[kelly77]

Awww that must be something to see

I replaced her egg with a fake one that I had about the same size but its pink lol I don't think the real one would have survived because she doesn't stay on it. Although its cute to see her making her nest and sitting on this one. I hope she will lay more in spring and go broody. It is the beginning of winter here in New Hampshire so it is getting cold, she would have to be on the egg constantly right? I am trying to read up on brooding ...this site it helpful. Here is a video of her on my youtube