One went broody, the other 2 quit laying

[AASister]

We have 3 silkies that were laying well up until a few days ago. We were consistently getting 2 or 3 eggs on a daily basis. One of the girls went broody and now the other two silkies have quit laying. The brooding one is laying an egg a day (we think it's her - we don't know if the others are laying and she is gathering that one egg under her, but we don't think so). We have moved her several times but always find her in back in her original spot the next morning, where all three of the hens laid their eggs, and there is only one egg there under her. One morning, she was where we had placed her the evening before, and there was an egg under her, and no eggs in the normal laying spot until the next morning, and there she was, with that one egg.
My question is this - is it normal for other hens, silkies or other breeds, to stop laying when one hen goes broody?

 

[chickens really]

Put her into a Dog crate over night and Wait to see if the others are laying?...Not sure of your location?...Put that in your profile. Here in Alberta Canada its Fall and the days are much shorter..Chickens require longer days to lay eggs..

 

[azygous]

It's tempting to make conclusions with circumstantial evidence. In reality, things may be quite different. Here are the likely causes of what you are seeing.

You don't state where on the planet you are raising your chickens, but here in the northern hemisphere, most chickens have drastically reduced the amount of eggs they're laying because the days are approaching the cut-off where there isn't enough light to trigger egg laying hormones unless we supplement light in our coops.

Another fact is that true broodies that have begun the incubation process do not lay eggs. It's unusual for a broody to set eggs and then continue to lay. Most have an instinct not to begin the incubation process until they've laid all their eggs for that clutch.

The way an egg can get into a nest a boody is occupying is by another hen laying it. Hens feel compelled to lay their egg where they see another hen occupying a nest. It's a "thing".

Another alternative is that many Silkies do have a "thing" about nesting, being enthralled with nests and simply enjoying sitting in them, broody or not. There are ways to determine whether a hen is truly broody. Does she puff up and emit an angry growl when touched while occupying the nest? Are feathers missing along her keel bone? Does she emit the rapid, low volume "broody cluck"? Does she return to the nest as if attached to it by a rubber band when you remove her, all the while making this rapid popping noise?

You do have some mysteries going on, but you need more information to reach some valid conclusions.

 

[AASister]

Thanks for replying. I live in North Texas and my sister has put up lights on a timer, so they get extra light.
Yes, she did puff up and emit an angry growl when touched. We never saw her leave her spot - that's what it was, a spot on the ground where they lay their eggs, not the box we have provided. We did move her twice, but there she was, back on that spot within a few hours.
It's all a moot point now anyway as when we got up Monday morning, all but a few of the eggs had been destroyed, with 2 pushed out of the spot. She has stopped brooding.
But it was curious that before she went broody we were getting 2-3 eggs every day, then the minute she went broody, we were consistently only getting one egg a day.