Peer pressure?

[Whimsical Farming Wife]

I have started a little mothering hen project, with 3 Silkies (planning for 6) segregated for hatching eggs. One Silkie hatched a babe (yes- only one of 6!). The chick is around a week old... and now the other 2 silkies have gone broody!!! Yay! Has anyone experienced this before?

 

[Godsgrl]

broodiness is extremely contagious, and it spreads like wildfire from coop to coop. Enjoy all of your babies.

 

[Happy Chooks]

They're jealous silkies. They figure if somebody else is gonna hatch, they should too.

 

[Whimsical Farming Wife]

Actually it's funny you put it like that... they were actually fighting over who got to sit on the clutch that they accumulated together! ... I have since closed their brooding space doors

 

[Tala]

I think they say that women/girls who live together tend to get on the same female cycle after a while. Something about the hormones.
Perhaps it works with broodies too!

 

[Whimsical Farming Wife]

I sure hope so! I'll have to aquire more Silkies before this group of hatching starts so that they keep the cycle going!

 

[Whimsical Farming Wife]

By the way... I just have to share how happy I am to have a group of people to 'chicken chat' with! Thanx for everyones input!

 

[Laney]

I have a Silver Phoenix hen that went broody. We gave her golf balls. She kept brooding and brooding. So we gave her an egg. She kept brooding it, AND her sister joined her on the next. They weren't sharing it, one at a time, both hens are always on the nest at the same time and happy to be there. Problem is they hatched the chick, and keep on brooding the golf balls. Neither one cares about the chick. The box they chose is 2 feet off the ground. So I've taken the chick in.

If broody is truly catchy I really really want one of my cochin's to catch it so that I can put little Libra out there!

Laney

 

[Whimsical Farming Wife]

My 2 silkies were doing the same thing; sitting on the same clutch of eggs at one time. The less dominant lady only managed to steal around 3 or so at a time, but she got the whole clutch when her superior got up for a quick break.
My 5 year old son commented that they looked like they were sitting at the beach together... I don't really know what he meant, but it was funny
When I seperated each of the silkies into their own enclosed nesting spaces, I gave one the 3 eggs that she managed to steal whenever she could. She stopped sitting on them, and started laying again!? It sounds weird, but I think that she is waiting until she has enough eggs for her clutch before she sits on them... but I don't know if she has the ability to turn it on & off like that!? I am giving her credit anyways, and replacing her infertile contributions with fertile eggs everyday. I am very curious to see what the magic number will be... if any!