When do Silkies start going broody?

[BantamFan4Life]

When do Silkies start going broody? I have a sixth month old blue silkie (my profile pic is her) who just
started laying and I'm wondering when she'll start going broody so I can hatch eggs under her. This is
my first time raising Silkies and I'm loving it! I think I might get some more for this year's batch of chicks.

Thanks!!!!

 

[groundpecker]

To encourage a silkie to go broody, just leave the eggs she lays in the nestbox.
I have had them go broody with the first 5-6 eggs a hen laid.

Time of year, weather, tempiture, stress,and number of egss in the nestbox effects silkies going broody.

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Thanks! I'll make sure to leave her eggs in the nest for a day or two and then I'll take them out if she doesn't
go broody so the eggs will be still good to eat. Just an out-of-topic question is it true that bantam eggs taste better
than normal eggs?

 

[groundpecker]

Eggs should taste just like any other chicken eggs that you get.

It may take 8-10 days of leaving the eggs in the nest, before a silkie may go broody. I would not remove the eggs.

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Okay, and another question; on average how many eggs can a Silkie brood on?

 

[BantamFan4Life]

The leaving the egg thing didn't exactly work I left the egg on the nest and the next morning it wasn't there!

Tonight I
went out to put my chickens to bed it was 5:30 (P.M.) and Sweety, my Silkie, was asleep on the nest, she was broody!!!!!

 

[gryeyes]

I would never leave eggs in a nest hoping for a hen, no matter what the breed, to go broody on 'em.

Nothing you or I or anybody else can do to MAKE a hen go broody, even the "broodiest" of breeds. Mother Nature decides when - and IF - a hen gets the rise in hormones to trigger her desire to set.

 

[eloisemarie]

One of our four silkies has started laying (could be more than one, but we've only seen one sitting on the eggs every once in a while). The silkies are only 4 months old today, so I thought it was too early, but I guess not! We also found out that our fifth silkie is a rooster (we originally thought they were all females!), so I believe there's the possibility the eggs are fertilized. If the eggs have been laid, but there isn't a hen sitting on them all the time, what should we do? Are those ones we should pull out of there and eat? How long can the eggs be outside after being laid before they shouldn't be eaten? And how can we tell if an egg is developing? Would that be happening even if one of the hens isn't sitting on them at all times?
Thank you in advance for all of your help! And sorry for all the questions...I'm still new to all this! We weren't expecting eggs (or a rooster!) for a while!

 

[nagleobr]

One of my silkie hens is acting strange. She is always standing by herself in the food trough or in the nesting box I constructed. Is she maybe broody? I'll try leaving eggs out, but I have some fake eggs in there. She is about 6 1/2 months old. I get one egg a day max from five hens. They just started laying a couple weeks ago.

 

[amidonal90]

Do hens go broody in the winter I have a silkie that I always find sitting in the eggs for long peirods should I leave the eggs or take them when she keeps up. Mind u I live in michigan and it's in the teens.