My Silkie has gone brrrrr-oody!

[Mom 2em All]

First, let me just vent- DUMB bird! It is about twelve degrees outside.

She has a nice warm coop- that has a heater. Does she go broody in it? Nope. She is behind the piece of plywood against my house.
Oh- it has taken me about three days to figure it out.
I complained about her in a different thread, laying her eggs back there and if I didnt collect them in time, they froze.

Well, she isnt moving now. I pulled her out of there to eat yesterday, and she ate and ran right back to her "nest".
SHE HAS NO EGGS IN THERE.

Last night, all the other girls went to bed in the coop, she was nowhere to be seen. looked behind the wood, yep still sitting tight.
I picked her up, put her in the coop(she was surprisingly warm feeling). Poor thing ran out the pop door and back to her nest- ran right through the dark night to her spot. I let her go.

So, do I order some eggs and stick them under her? I could bring her in the house in a dog crate, and let her set them. Did I mention it is winter time? COLD. SNOW. ICE.

I found one seller that has eggs about 180 miles from me. If they overnighted the eggs, I could do that. OR- if it starts snowing on this goofy bird, will she give up? (I feel bad not letting her set, I have no rooster here.)

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

I feel your pain. My silly silkie went broody during the coldest week we've had so far. It was in the teens when I'd go out in the mornings. After fighting the broody I finally gave up and shoved a half dozen eggs under her and let her go to it. She is even now happily hunkered down brooding. Chicks should hatch out this weekend.

I say go for it. But then, I'm an enabler!

 

[Southernbelle]

I was afraid of that! I posted on that other thread. Wherever my Silkies lay their eggs, that's where they eventually go broody and I was worried if your girl was laying out there, that she'd try to brood out there. How protected is her spot? She'll keep her eggs from freezing, but how bad is your weather going to get in the next 3 weeks? I doubt she'd give up even if it did snow on her - it would just make a nice, Silkie-shaped igloo in the snow

If you up and move her, she may keep trying to go back to "her" spot. I use 5 gal buckets and empty kitty litter buckets for my nest boxes and when one goes broody I can pick them up nest and all and move them to a safe place. They seem pretty tolerant of this. Can you put a nest box over "her" spot and see if she'll sit in it? Then if/when she accepts it, pick up the bucket and put her in the dog crate?

I always give my broodies eggs. To me, it just feels wrong to try to break them, but I know you were leaning towards giving her eggs anyway!

She can't count, so even if it takes a few days to get eggs to her, she'll stick with them until they hatch. I'd only give her a few - 1/2 doz or so, so she won't struggle to keep them all warm in this weather.

Congratulations!