Silkies won't go broody...

[ameliadanielle]

They came from a small backyard breeder. I'm not sure where their original stock was from. They use silkies to hatch out eggs. I guess I may have gotten the ones that just wouldn't do the job. Lol. It's ok. We've just gotten attached to them now as pets. Since my laying hen just hatched out some unprepared for mutt babies, I thought it would be neat to hatch some silkies and increase our tiny flock of 3. If they don't go broody, they still have a home here. I've obviously got some birds willing to sit on eggs and we don't have the room to hatch out too many babies. Our silkie rooster is a turd and we have to supervise to let them free range so they don't get much time out of the pen every day. I thought if we hatched some babies and grew his flock a little he would calm down and leave our other flock alone.

 

[ameliadanielle]

My silkies lay 10-14 eggs to a clutch. When you said six and then nothing; that's what made me think there was a health problem. A health problem does not have to be major. Something small can cause egg production to stop and then right itself. When they start to lay again give them another chance.

My silkies do not like small nest boxes. They like roomy, enclosed, and on the ground/floor.

The 6, plus the 8 we had already removed because they were laying them in the grass until I found a suitable nest box for them, plus the one from today makes 15. That's why I believe only one is laying. Will one silkie lay an egg every other day?

 

[ameliadanielle]

They had six eggs in there at Thanksgiving. So they took a few days off. Added another egg today. Now they have 7 in their box.

 

[nchls school]

Yes, a silkie can lay every other day as can other breeds for one reason or another.

 

[nchls school]

The 6, plus the 8 we had already removed because they were laying them in the grass until I found a suitable nest box for them, plus the one from today makes 15. That's why I believe only one is laying. Will one silkie lay an egg every other day?

Only the eggs laid in a single nest count as a clutch. Many people disagree with me on this believing broodiness is only a matter of hormones. I believe it is a combination of both; hormones and the gradual increase of eggs in a nest.

 

[ameliadanielle]

I had thought that they kept laying because I kept removing them then stopped when they hit 6 in the nest but weren't sitting. I guess they are still adding to it though. I'll give them some more time and see what happens.

 

[ameliadanielle]

Our silkie hen had 11 of her own eggs in the nest box, and we have left their pen door open all day so they can free range with everyone else since our silkie rooster has calmed down and now doesn't attack our Wyandotte rooster anymore. So my laying hens started laying in there as well. So she had her 11 silkie eggs and 6 large brown eggs. She has been staying in the nest box, and she's always in there, but she isn't broody. She just stands there all day staring at the eggs. So this morning we took her out and set her down in the yard. She just ate and drank and is running around being a chicken. I thought eventually she would sit on them... but she just stands at the entrance to the nest box staring at the eggs. Lol. She is definitely not going to win any chicken IQ contests, but we love her anyway. We cleared the nest out. This is the same nest box my buff orpington hatched out babies in, so maybe the silkies will lay some fresh eggs, as I didn't mark them and some were quite old by this point. One of my laying hens may decide to go to broody and sit on them for the silkies. Lol.

 

[ameliadanielle]

Also, we found out it is our tiny white silkie hen that is laying the eggs. The one that is smaller and I call her a dwarf. There was no way she could even cover the 11 silkie eggs she had much less the added eggs from the laying hens. Maybe she just couldn't figure out what to do with that many eggs and her little brain just got stuck.

 

[nchls school]

Some hens, regardless of breed, just are not parent material.

 

[varidgerunner]

Some hens, regardless of breed, just are not parent material.

I don't believe that to be true. I have yet to see a gamefowl hen that wouldn't go broody, if given the right surroundings. If they won't go broody, they have something else in them. None of them will do much this time of year, though.