When will my Silkie go broody? (also, other silkie Qs)

[wullus]

A little video I made of them this morning

 

[Christie Loves Silkies]

You are soo lucky my birds wont eat scraps -.-

 

[Kim95037]

My dang chickens will eat anything including my silkie. Molly ate a washer, my Plymouth Rock, all 5 of my chickens were busted eating my venetian blinds that I took down and put outside in the corner of my yard because my cat from hell detroyed them. They were actually breaking off peices of the vinyl blinds and eating them. Annie my buff Orp likes to eat the stickers on the watermelon from the store so i have to make sure I take it off. Molly also stole a whole half of a bagel right out of my hand, I turned around just in time to see her speeding around the corner bagel in beak, with the rest of the flock close behind. They even peck at the paint on the outside of the house!!! I can hear their little beaks hitting the side of the house when Im inside sometimes. The good news is I never have to worry about left overs going to waste.....

 

[Kim95037]

My silkie goes broody like clockwork about every 2 and a half weeks........

 

[wullus]

You are soo lucky my birds wont eat scraps -.-

Haha, all our birds love them they dive in straight away. Quite funny

My dang chickens will eat anything including my silkie. Molly ate a washer, my Plymouth Rock, all 5 of my chickens were busted eating my venetian blinds that I took down and put outside in the corner of my yard because my cat from hell detroyed them. They were actually breaking off peices of the vinyl blinds and eating them. Annie my buff Orp likes to eat the stickers on the watermelon from the store so i have to make sure I take it off. Molly also stole a whole half of a bagel right out of my hand, I turned around just in time to see her speeding around the corner bagel in beak, with the rest of the flock close behind. They even peck at the paint on the outside of the house!!! I can hear their little beaks hitting the side of the house when Im inside sometimes. The good news is I never have to worry about left overs going to waste.....

Haha wow, I thought it was bad that a plastic bag blew in when I opened the door and they all ran up and started trying to dissect it ours stay away from our house. We have a massive garden and they stay in only one section, and no further.

My silkie goes broody like clockwork about every 2 and a half weeks........

Haha, how old is she?

 

[Kim95037]

Shes two years old. This is my new guy we hatched partly broody silkie part incubator. She went out of broody mood two days after I got the dang egg. Thankfully she went back about a week or so before hatch time! They're chowing down on some dried meal worms here.

 

[wullus]

Awww cute Haha. Looks like she's havin' a ball!

I thought my hen was just starting to go broody before! She went to the nest and sat on it during the afternoon, I was all excited so I grabbed some fertilized eggs and was there shoving them underneath her. Cause my parents sex link hens always lay in the morning, and the silkie jumping on them in the middle of the afternoon, I thought she was just going to incubate them.

Alas, fifteen minutes later, out popped an egg, and she went off. So devasted haha but thats her sixth egg she's layed (5th in the nest, I accidentally cracked her first one) so we're half-way there!

She never seems to lay with a consistent schedule, like my parent's sex links do... it's a random time each day. Two days ago, she layed on in the morning, the day before... around midday. Now today in the afternoon. Is this another Silkie trait?

 

[Den in Penn]

Be patient with putting eggs under her to hatch. She may practice a couple of times for short periods first. If she sits for two days straight, then she may have decided to go for it. Then put the eggs under her.

 

[wullus]

I think she's gone broody! I left all the eggs to pile up (still only the one chook laying) and I went out this morning and she was sitting on the eggs. I grabbed some of my parents fertile crossbreed eggs (just for now) and put next to her. I put my hand near her to see if she growled or anything, but she just nipped at my hand, so I figured she was just laying an egg. Fast forward 12 hours, and I get home to check and she is STILL THERE! I put my hand near her again, and she just nipped at it again. No growling, no sound at all, just pecking at my hand. Must just be warning pecks....

Would she be broody? She's been on there all day.

I'm thinking of buying some fertile Light Sussex eggs to put under her from a local breeder.

 

[wullus]

Alright, here's some photos of her! I think she is broody, she's been sitting on the nest for three days now, she hopped of it this morning for about 5 minutes max to get some brekky, but then straight back to the nest!

She's not making any noises when I go near her though, just pecking at my fingers. I thought chooks were supposed to get all aggressive at you if you were disturbing them? Like showing their nest feathers and growling... or do silkies not do this?

Here's some pics





I was going to record a video, but my camera's playing up.

Thanks!