I think my silkie is depressed or jealous

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Silkielover1104

Silkielover1104

In the Brooder
5 Years
Jul 23, 2014
23
0
22
Exeter, New Hampshire
HI, I need some advise. I have two silkie hens that have grown up together they are around a year old. we got a new chick 4 weeks ago. the chick is now 10 weeks old and has been spending more time during the day with the to hens outside. one of my hens has taken on the "mothering" roll to this chick. My other silkie seemed to be fine with it up to, two day ago then she stopped laying eggs, would come out for a little while in the morning and spend the rest of the day him the coop, which is not like her, she loves being free range. going to bed a lot earlier than normal, now she is making yelling noises which she has never done. I am not sure if she is jealous of the new chick and has to adjust or if she is depressed because she has nothing to mother... She is eating and drinking. But out of both hens she is my spunky one and she is not so spunky the last few days. Any advise would be great.

Thanks,

SilkieLover
 
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Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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You need to rule out sickness first before thinking it is a behavior issue, which it could also be. So give her an overall exam from beak to tail. Checking for mites, lice, respiratory ailments, check the crop before roosting for being full and in the morning for being empty, check the feet, legs and pads for heat, redness, swelling or bumblefoot. Give her an internal exam to see if she has a stuck egg. Put on a latex glove with some KY Jelly or Vaseline on the index finger and gently insert your finger into her vent. If she has a stuck egg, it will be right there.

If you haven't wormed your birds in a while, you might get her wormed as well.

If you can't find anything that is ailing her at all, then she could be a bit lonely and needs to adjust to the new room mate. Maybe you need to go spend more time with her until she adjusts.

Good luck and I hope you can figure this out soon. :)
 
hollys chooks said:
Is it possible she is broody? I haven't had a broody hen but i know their behaviour changes. Also silkies are quite prone to being broody.
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Ah yes....the yelling noises! She is probably broody!! Hollys Chooks is on to something here!
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Thanks for you advice. We are out with the hens everyday. They are my daughters best buds. she is a white silkie and loves to give herself dirt baths on a daily bases. i was going to give her a bath today because she is so black in dirt. I have checked to see if there is an egg stuck there is no egg. When i take her out of the coop. she pops right up and acts normal running around the yard pecking at the grass eating veggies from the garden, taking dirt bathes but after about and hour she is right back in the coop again, as i said she is usually the last one in the coop. she is not pecking at us so i don't think she is booty, like our other hen was. i have checked her poop, it is solid normal color and no sign of worms or undigested food. she not moping around she is just not her self since the chick has been spending more time out with them. We are getting another chick but we are waiting to make sure it is a hen. We can't have roosters where we live. I am wondering if with another chick she will be able to mother it and she will feel useful. She has mothered chicks in the past, but the chick that we have now took to our other hen. I also don't want to overwhelm her with babies either..
 
I hope not, i just got done with on hen being broody for 7 weeks then we got a chick and she took onto mothering it. she is ok now but still not laying eggs. if broody is contagious then maybe LOL, but i hope not she is not a year yet. but i guess age doesn't matter.. Oh i hope not. she allows us to pet her, our other hen would peck us like crazy when she was broody, now she pecks us because she is protecting the chick. we can't win. :) its been two days and she is my best layer. I have read that you can put then in a different coop and you can break them of it quickly. I am still not getting eggs from my first broody hen.
 
I am going to scream if she is broody. it makes complete sense. on her behavior... OHHHH not again... now i will have no eggs. I only have the two hens right now slowly working on building my flock...I am going to have to get another coop ready and put her in it away from the other hen and chick and break her. sooner than later. my other hen was broody 7 weeks and i still am not getting eggs from her now that she is mothering..

Thank you both for your help. I have work to do...
 
Welcome to BYC! Glad you decided to join our flock. We used to have some Black Silkies and it seems like they were constantly broody. They do make great sitters and mothers. Please feel free to ask any other questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck with your Silkies.
 
Your silkie is just feeling broody - it often goes from one hen to another because the sight and sound of chicks stirs up their hormones. If you buy a young chick you have no idea what sex it will be. Silkies are very hard to sex before 4-5 mos. of age and sometimes now till they lay an egg or crow. Do you want to take a chance of having a male?

Even if they weren't broody - silkies are not known to be reliable layers - like other breeds.
A lot of chickeners keep silkies just for the purpose of having broodies to hatch eggs instead of the problems of using an incubator.
 

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