I think she is broody (silkie)..what do I do now?.

[Dar]

I think I have a broody silkie..

She is sitting on eggs I dont know how many.
she lets out a kind of growl/chirp/warning mumble every time i go to see what she is hiding.

I want to let her do her thing BUT i have NEVER seen my rooster "do the deed" and from what I have read on here, quite often silkies need a trim to aid the rooster in his "deed"

at what point do i give up on "momma" and just take the eggs?

do I candle after 10 days? or do you only do that with an incubator?

will she reject the egg after i have disturbed her?

The silkies are the ones i bought at an auction so they are still in the brooder in quarantine while DH takes his sweet time building the tractor, however the tractor will be ready this weekend

should I just leave everyone be until the 21 day point with the eggs or move everyone EXCEPT "momma"? or move her too?

these are definitely mature chickens and are in the brooder as a make shift quarantine unit

 

[shortcake1806]

Silkies usually growl but aren't really mean. I'd wait til day 10 and candle a couple eggs just to see what's going on. If you don't want to chance it you could always order some eggs and replace hers with them asap.

 

[keystonepaul]

Here's what I've found. If they truelly are broody you can ship them to the moon on the shuttle and the next morning they'll be back on thier nest. I was able to reach under my first broody and candle eggs. pulled out one side and put them back in front on the other. She shuffled them back in and when I was done I helped put them back under her. i talked to her every time I entered the hen house and a bit before approaching her (did it help-don't know but it helped me.LOL) With my remaining 1000 (ok 5 but it seems like 1000) If I put my hand near the front or side of her I'd get pecked and or bit. However if I came into the nest with my hands to the left and right edges and high I could reach in and grasp any one of them around the middle and lift them out. Some layed right where I put them, others squaked and carried on at my feet, others waited till they got outside and announced thier displeasure to the world. They always went back to the nests. I've now put 3 of them in thier own space away from the main group each under a clutch of eggs. Since they weren't laying I figured I'd make them productive. There all a bit more defensive than my first one so we'll see how candling with them on the eggs go. If not it'll be reach in high at night and take her off and lay her at my feet, candle and return her to the nest. I think seperating her would be best, but if you don't mark your eggs so you know which ones are hers when she gets off the nest to eat or poop and others lay eggs with hers. You'll be glad you did, but even gladder you seperated her I'm betting. Good luck, Keystonepaul

 

[TreeHugger]

At least mark the eggs otherwise she will end up with to many under her & you won't know which eggs are the oldest. I just used my silkies to hatch out some polish frizzles. I actually lifted the hens every day to pull out any new eggs they had. I think it is better to candle the eggs after about a week & pull out any unfertile eggs. I think it gives the fertile eggs a better chance of hatching since there is less chance they will get knocked to the side & get cold. She will not reject any eggs if you touch them, silkies will sit on a rock & try to hatch it. Happy hatching!!