I'm not new to chickens but I'm a newbie when it comes to silkies having got my first ones just 8 months ago. Well last month one decided to go broody but after sitting on the eggs for 5 days she abandoned them and so she went back in with the rest. Last week she went broody again so I've given her a bunch of eggs to sit on again.
On Thursday I noticed another one in the nest all day, same with Friday, so Saturday I set her up in the brooding pen with a nest full of eggs too. Yesterday I noticed she was off the nest so I took the eggs away thinking it was a false alarm like the first one. She was all ruffed up but ate a bit and went back into the nest so I left 1 egg for her thinking maybe she didn't quite know what to do. Well this morning I go in to find her off the nest and dead! What I mistook for broodiness was her slowly dying and I didn't have a clue! I didn't have time to do an autopsy so it'll remain a mystery, but it wasn't from freezing because she was less then 2 feet away from a heat lamp.
