Okay so I got a pair of breeding silkies and I was just wondering how long does it take for the hen to lay a full clutch of eggs and also how long does she sit on them before they hatch. Thanks!!
The hen will usually determine how many eggs she lays before she starts to brood them, and hen brooded eggs will usually hatch on day 20, as opposed to ones in an incubator that will hatch on day 21.
She will only sit on the eggs if she is broody. Not every Silkie hen is prone to going broody. Generally Silkies to tend to be more broody than other breeds, but it's not a guarantee that yours will be. Fall/winter is a time of year when most hens will not go broody, due to the shortening days. Silkies are small, so she will probably only be able to cover about 6 to 8 eggs adequately. You can leave a few dummy eggs in the nest to help encourage her to go broody. Collect the eggs she lays, daily, and store them fat end up. When she does go broody, add the eggs you have collected for incubating all at once, so that the chicks all hatch at the same time. Do not give her more eggs than she can keep covered.
