my little silkie has been laying a egg a day since she started laying two weeks ago!

[realsis]

Hi all as you probably know my little silkie started laying about 2 weeks ago. Since then she's been laying a egg a day. My last flock of silkies would usually skip a day or two. I'm wondering if she will continue like this? Will it be hard on her little body? She gets the best organic feed and now oyster shell but I'm a bit worried it will take a lot out of her. When I think she's going to skip a day she always ends up laying that afternoon.do you think this will be hard on her body? She also gets vitamins probotics and sea kelp. She also grazes on a pasture I've planted. Is there any more you can think of doing that will keep her healthy and not depleated? All eggs are nice with hard shells but I worry is a egg a day too much for a little tiny silky? What do you think?

 

[chooks4life]

And she goes broody in: 5... 4... 3... 2... lol

I knew one purebred silkie hen who was still laying at the ripe old age of 13, still laying whole clutches and brooding them every season. It's not hard on her if you're supplementing her right and the eggs are an appropriate size for her body, and it sounds like you are supporting her via diet already, and I'd bet her eggs are the right size for her. Kelp is a laying promoter and supporter.

2 weeks of an egg a day should be nothing to worry about. The hyperprolific layers, like hybrids etc, are the ones who really suffer, all of them are always prematurely aged and worn out at 2 or three years old and need culling or some serious TLC but will never know total health due to the strain on their systems.

Your Silkie should be fine, after all she's laying a fairly natural clutch size and chances are high that she'll go broody soon, unless you're always taking her eggs away, which can provoke them to lay more since their body does not receive the natural switch-off of going broody in that case.

Best wishes.

 

[realsis]

Thank you. Yes I also had the thought that she will likely go broody soon. These aren't my first silkies and I know how awfully broody they can be! I do remove the eggs as soon as they are laid but that usually still does not matter to a silkie. I've had them go broody and sit on nothing! I just hope she gives it a little more time before going broody. It always worries me when they go broody because they barely eat a thing and loose weight. This one is already really little and I'd hate for her to loose weight! Hopefully she will have a little more time before she goes broody.but she is a silkie and they surely are a broody breed! Thank you for answering my questions. It's much appreciated! I just love my girls and worry sometimes. Usually my silkies skip a day when laying. She's my first silkie to lay daily. Just wanted to make sure I was supporting her nutritionally and see if there was more I could be doing to help her out. I've noticed silkies can be prone to vitamin defiency and I just didn't want any thing like that happening to her. I do try to supplement the best I can because my older birds that were only on layer ended up getting defiency. So I've switched up to organic feed and now add vitamins, probotics, and kelp. I just don't want that to happen again!