Silkie has gone Broody - Will she leave her nest for food?

[Spetznaaz]

I found one of our Silkies in her nest today, sat on an egg, she's been there all day so i assume she has gone broody. I would like to just let her do her thing (unless it's not recommended) but it suddenly occurred to me, will she leave her nesting box to eat and drink? Her food and water is about 2ft away. Or should i take her too her food / bring her food to her?

Cheers

 

[Aunt Angus]

I found one of our Silkies in her nest today, sat on an egg, she's been there all day so i assume she has gone broody. I would like to just let her do her thing (unless it's not recommended) but it suddenly occurred to me, will she leave her nesting box to eat and drink? Her food and water is about 2ft away. Or should i take her too her food / bring her food to her?

Cheers

She will leave to eat, drink, poop, and dust bathe. She just won't leave for long.

Are you planning to let her hatch?

 

[Spetznaaz]

She will leave to eat, drink, poop, and dust bathe. She just won't leave for long.

Are you planning to let her hatch?

I would absolutely love to let her hatch and we were thinking about buying some fertile Araucana eggs (we only have two girls so not a fertile egg) however we can't have any roosters here and if one of them turned out to be a boy it would brake my heart having to get rid of them.

That's good to know that she will leave to eat and everything, i was worried about her!

 

[Aunt Angus]

I would absolutely love to let her hatch and we were thinking about buying some fertile Araucana eggs (we only have two girls so not a fertile egg) however we can't have any roosters here and if one of them turned out to be a boy it would brake my heart having to get rid of them.

That's good to know that she will leave to eat and everything, i was worried about her!

Then it might be a good idea to "break" her or give her chicks to raise.

Silkies are notorious for going broody A LOT. Just a word of warning...

 

[Ridgerunner]

Before a hen even starts to lay she builds up excess fat in her body. I've butchered enough pullets, hens, cockerels, and roosters to see the difference in fat. The difference is remarkable. This excess fat is what a broody hen mostly lives off of so she can take care of her eggs instead of being out looking for food.

I've had a broody hen leave her nest twice a day for over an hour each time to eat, drink, poop, and maybe take a dust bath. I had a hen that came off of her nest once a day every morning for fifteen minutes. That was the only time I saw her off of the nest. I never did see some broody hens come off of their nest but I knew thy did because they were not pooping in the nest. Nature has set broody hens up to be successful, you don't need to provide food or water near the nest or take them off the nest.

You never know how many eggs will hatch so I'd want to set at least four. It is easier on the chicks growing up if they have a companion their age, especially after the hen weans them and leaves them on their own. With winter coming I'd not want to hatch too many, the hen needs to be able to cover them all in the cold weather and they grow fast. Also your silkie is probably a bantam and Araucana are larger.

If you hatch you never know how many will be boys. You need a plan to deal with them. It sounds like that could be really stressful for you.

I don't know if you have this option in Wales. especially this time of the year, but if you could find some sexed day old pullets in two to three weeks she would probably adopt them. They need to be really young, hopefully not more than three days old at the most. I anticipate that could be a real challenge for you, it probably would be for most of us.

Personally I think you would be better off breaking her from being broody and waiting until next year when the weather will be nicer and you may be able to get day old female chicks for her to raise. The chances of her going broody next year are really high.

 

[Spetznaaz]

Then it might be a good idea to "break" her or give her chicks to raise.

Silkies are notorious for going broody A LOT. Just a word of warning...

Yeah i have heard they go broody a lot, we've had ours since August and this is the first time one of them has, although i guess it's only been 3 months. Is there any negatives to not breaking her out of it? Like will it mean she's more likely to go broody in the future or something. If there's no negatives i'd probably just let her get on with it.

Before a hen even starts to lay she builds up excess fat in her body. I've butchered enough pullets, hens, cockerels, and roosters to see the difference in fat. The difference is remarkable. This excess fat is what a broody hen mostly lives off of so she can take care of her eggs instead of being out looking for food.

I've had a broody hen leave her nest twice a day for over an hour each time to eat, drink, poop, and maybe take a dust bath. I had a hen that came off of her nest once a day every morning for fifteen minutes. That was the only time I saw her off of the nest. I never did see some broody hens come off of their nest but I knew thy did because they were not pooping in the nest. Nature has set broody hens up to be successful, you don't need to provide food or water near the nest or take them off the nest.

You never know how many eggs will hatch so I'd want to set at least four. It is easier on the chicks growing up if they have a companion their age, especially after the hen weans them and leaves them on their own. With winter coming I'd not want to hatch too many, the hen needs to be able to cover them all in the cold weather and they grow fast. Also your silkie is probably a bantam and Araucana are larger.

If you hatch you never know how many will be boys. You need a plan to deal with them. It sounds like that could be really stressful for you.

I don't know if you have this option in Wales. especially this time of the year, but if you could find some sexed day old pullets in two to three weeks she would probably adopt them. They need to be really young, hopefully not more than three days old at the most. I anticipate that could be a real challenge for you, it probably would be for most of us.

Personally I think you would be better off breaking her from being broody and waiting until next year when the weather will be nicer and you may be able to get day old female chicks for her to raise. The chances of her going broody next year are really high.

Thank you for the info. Today she was in a different nesting box, two eggs were left in the other one and she's currently not got any underneath her which i find odd as you'd think she would instinctually want to go back and sit on the eggs. No poo to be seen in any of the nesting boxes.

Yeah it's probably best we wait until next year if we go down the that route. Need to ensure our girls don't have infectious bronchitis as well (slight wrinkly yolks) before introducing anyone else, i need to make a thread on that.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Is there any negatives to not breaking her out of it? Like will it mean she's more likely to go broody in the future or something.

Breaking her will not prevent her from going broody in the future. It also will not cause her to go broody in the future.

Most hens will break from being broody when they use up all their excess fat, and sometimes before. People see a broody hen lose weight and think that is negatively hurting her health. It's not as long as it is the fat that was put there for that purpose. So usually no bad health effects. On rare occasions you might get a hen that isn't quite right with her instincts and stay broody past that point, anything is possible with living animals, but it so rare I would not worry about that.

A broody hen is not laying eggs. She may not be eating a lot but does require some extra work so but she is not earning her keep. Many people want hens to lay eggs.

I've seen posts on here where a broody hen disrupts the harmony of the flock. I personally have not seen that but we all have different set-ups and flock management techniques so we get different experiences.

The longer she is broody the longer it takes her to replenish the fat so she can start laying again.

Broody hens are more susceptible to roost mites. Roost mites avoid light but in the dark of the nest they can suck her blood all day long. As long as you check her regularly for roost mites and treat if necessary it is not a problem but something to be aware of with any broody hen. Call it a potential negative.

Personally I break my broody hens if I don't want them to hatch eggs or raise chicks. It fits my goals better.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I've had a hen who wasn't "right" and just wouldn't stop setting for months. But that is definitely rare!

I find the longer they set without actually hatching/raising chicks, the harder time they have reentering the flock once they give it up. They may also need their nails and beaks trimmed, and they can be susceptible to lice. I also worry about health issues popping up because of lack of nutrition and/or sunlight. And it's nigh impossible to observe their overall health if they're in a nest 24/7.

My Silkies are the only birds I let "ride it out" because they don't seem to go overboard. I still need to trim their nails and beaks, and I make it a point to get them out of the nest at least once a day just so I can observe them.

And my Silkies are broody soooooo frequently that it'd take more time and energy breaking them than I want to spend - lol! It's not an exaggeration to say that my Silkies are broody more often than not.