What to do with pet silkie's first egg?

[MJ]

We thought we had two roosters. Since we found an egg in their run, I guess not. We picked it up and put it in a nest box in the coop. They rolled it back out when we weren't looking!

You've probably guessed that I'm new at raising chickens. I want chicks but don't want to mess with an incubator. Won't the egg-layer sit on the egg and hatch a chick if it's fertile? Why wasn't the egg in the nest box, and why did they roll it back out? They seemed pretty concerned when we moved it into the nest box and at first they couldn't see it.

Thanks for any advice and answers,

MJ

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

I take my silkie eggs and eat them.

At some point your hen will go broody and not budge from the nest box. Until then she won't incubate the eggs. You might as well take them in and use them. Once she goes broody (and there is no mistaking a broody silkie!), you can either give her eggs to hatch or try to break her of it. My experience with silkies is that they are really hard to break of being broody. I just give mine eggs and let them go at it.

Congrats on the egg!

 

[Huny]

Silkies are hard to sex until they are older. Do you have one crowing? I wouldn't try too hard with the egg, maybe just eat it until you know for sure you have a pair (ie see them mating) and check to see fertility in the egg. I had two "females" with one male, until the youngest "female" started pecking the male, and I figured it out. I incubated their first eggs, and it wasn't fertile. Finally this week I have been getting fertile eggs from her. This is 4 weeks later.

 

[MJ]

I haven't seen any mating, but I thought I heard them both crowing at one time or another. One is a little more vocal though -- maybe he really is a rooster.

So, if the hen isn't already sitting on the egg, she's not broody and probably won't be before its too late to hatch that egg? ( I mean, wont it go rotten just laying around? )

Thanks again for the answers,,

MJ

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Yup. It'll go rotten. My first broody happened at around 9 months. The second broody was 10 months old. Before that they were happy little laying hens. First broody stayed with the chicks about 6 weeks and then started laying again. It has been 8 weeks since she started laying again and she's still not broody.
You'll likely have big stretches of time before and between broody spells. You might as well enjoy eating the eggs. Banty eggs make great omelets!

Theoretically what happens is that the hen lays and egg and then goes off to be a chicken all day. The next day she lays an egg and goes off to be a chicken. So forth and so on until she has a clutch of 8-12 (or whatever magic number she decides is enough). THEN she'll go broody and sit on them. The eggs stay okay and stay dormant until she starts sitting on them. Then they all will develop at the same rate and will all hatch on day 21 of incubation. If you figure a hen lays only one egg a day, it can take up to a week and a half for her to lay the clutch. Day 1 egg will be as good as day 12egg and both eggs will hatch on the same day.

So far as vocalizations, my hens make roostery sounding noises as well. They are more screechy than the other hens and many times sound just like the rooster's alarm call. It's a very specific sound to silkies as best I can tell.

Does this help?