Silkie Hen

[whitecra]

I have a question. One of my silkie hens hatched out a batch of chick already this spring and looks like she is sitting again. She raised the others to the age of 2 weeks so I didn't think that she would go broody again. Is this normal?
Chris

 

[judylynnturner]

I have had my Silkies for about a year now. What I have found in my hens is that if there is an egg availabe to sit on, they will...I have lots of baby bantam chicks and my silkie chicks are hatching out now.

I am not sure if this is a learned behavior because when I got my silkies they were so small, I put them with my best bantam hens and that is where they have been placed back with thier eggs, and my bantam hens are great brooders.

Not sure if this helped or not, but that is my experience.

 

[whitecra]

Thanks. I know that silkies are good setters. I just didn't know that they would set twice in one year. Oh well she is. Out of our 5 hens I have had 4 of them hatch out babies and now this one is setting again.
Chris

 

[kentuckysilkies]

Chris, when I first started dealing with Silkies I had a Buff hen set and hatch 5 batches of eggs in one calendar year. She would keep the babies for about two weeks and start laying again. After laying 5 or 6 eggs she would be broody again.

 

[whitecra]

Quote:
Really. So I guess this is how silkies are. Thanks for the info.
Chris