Please help! I am worried about my silkie!

[SurfCityBumpkin]

Good morning, I am really hoping someone can help me! I'm a chicken newbie.

My silkie just began laying eggs 3 weeks ago. She gave me 1-2 eggs a day until 3 days or so ago. Now she doesn't want to leave the nest box. She spends all day in there. There are NO eggs under her. When I check on her, she grumbles and puts her butt in the air and sometimes pecks me. I took her out of the coop on the first day because I was worried, and she grazed for a bit and seemed normal but pretty soon she was right back in the coop. It's day 3 and she is still in there.

I worried about her having an egg stuck so I put her in a warm bath and massaged her belly, and even checked her for an egg or broken shell.....nothing.
Her crop seems full of food. (Haven't checked it is morning because she is grouchy)
Her buddy, is now in the coop near her but I am watching them and she is not pecking her. Just sort of hanging out by her.

I don't know if this is typical broody silkie behavior, or if I should be worried!

 

[chicmom]

Don't be worried! That's called being broody, and Silkies are a very broody breed of chicken. Being broody means this hormonal thing takes over and the hen has this incredible urge to hatch eggs and raise babies. Silkie hens are so broody, that they'll even sit on a pinecone. LOL
The broody hen also gets grumpy like you've mentioned. It's very typical. She is probably getting up for brief spells to eat, poop, and drink, then she runs right back to the nest.

It's all very normal. Hope this made you feel better.

Sharon

 

[SurfCityBumpkin]

Oh my gosh, thank you so much for putting my mind at ease! I have only 3 ladies and I would hate to lose one of them!
Should I just let this run it's course?

 

[SurfCityBumpkin]

Is it normal for her to be broody even with no eggs under her?

 

[chicmom]

Yes it's very normal. A friend of mine had a Silkie that tried to hatch a corn cob all winter. LOL And another gal had a silkie try and hatch a pinecone. They will sit on nothing at all too.

Broodiness does need to run it's course. Some people will even give their broody hen eggs to hatch. Personally, I don't try and break the broodiness, although many people do. What I do is, I just take them off the nest and put them out into the chicken run, or outside if they free range. I do that everytime I'm in the hen house, if I have a broody with nothing to hatch.

On the bright side, if you have some special hatching eggs, you can let your broody Silkie hatch them for you. They're great mothers!

 

[chicmom]

Is that your silkie in the picture? She's just gorgous!

 

[SurfCityBumpkin]

Ok, thank you very much for putting my mind at ease! I feel so much better now! I will just put her out in the yard everytime I go out there.

 

[SurfCityBumpkin]

I wish I could take credit for the gorgeous silkie in the photo but it's a picture I found. I subscribed to this site before I got my chickens.

Here is my Josephine

 

[chicmom]

OH, she's just as pretty as the picture!

 

[BantamLover21]

Yes, like the other posters said, your Silkie is probably just broody.