I have a beautiful Silkie hen named Priscilla that has laid 8 eggs to date. She shares her house with a Silkie rooster (that would be "Elvis") and another hen named Lisa-Marie that is her sister. Every night she goes & sits on her nest while Elvis & Lisa-Marie go to the opposite side of the coop and nuzzle in together. My kids were hoping she would sit on the eggs & go broody but so far, everyday she gets off them and dosen't get back on them until the evening. Will she just continue to lay? Is there any way of me marking the eggs with a pencil or something so that I could take the fresh eggs out...I don't want her to hatch too many chicks! Will she ever sit on them or should I give up hope & just collect the eggs? Are the eggs still good for human consumption after sitting in the hen house? By the way, she is Bantam sized so the eggs are small. Also, she arranges them in a different order every time I look in the nest..almost methodically! Somebody teach me!! Also, could Elvis be disturbing her?
Heidi, DO mark your eggs in pencil, date and the hen's name, too, if both are laying and you wish to know which hen's egg is in the nest. Odd that she sleeps on the nest, but is off during the day. Do you watch her all day? Are you sure she is not just off to eat, drink and poop. Actually, a setting hen makes a huge stinky poop, just once or twice a day--so if you find (or smell) that, you will know she really is setting! Is your nest box so that you could remove it at night and place it back in the coop first thing in the morning, so she will roost at night--if she isn't already setting? Usually a Silkie will lay up to 15 or so eggs before setting, but this varies by hen-some fewer, some more. Is Lisa-Marie laying, also? If this is a first time expectation for setting, 8 or 9 eggs will probably be enough for her to set on, when she does. Or, if you don't want more chicks than you can accommodate, just give Priscilla 4 or 5 eggs, and let Lisa-Marie hatch another 4 or 5 later.
Thanks Cjeanr,
OH YEAH! ALSO, could the air temperature outside affect the hatching probability of these eggs?? It has been 37 degrees celcius for 4 days straight until today when it finally cooled off. Perhaps would the humidity would affect the eggs? Could this affect Priscilla from setting?
Hard to say for sure, but it could????But do candle the eggs and see if any are developing. She may know something that we don't????? Strange things go on with chickens and we must never say never. Good luck, CJR
Heidi, Priscilla will set-that you can practically bet on! Our first broody silkie just waited till she had the number of eggs in the nest she wanted (in her case 12) and then set and hatched out 11 beautiful chicks! I don't know the conversion from celcius to farenheit but its been about 95 degrees F. here with very high humidity and one of our silkie/cockin hens just hatched out 7 or 8 chicks (can't see them clearly under her wings yet!)-and our barred rock hatched 5 chicks 2 weeks ago so the heat isn't stopping them. Good luck and enjoy those silkies-the babies are soooo cute! Mina
Thanks Mina,
By Cjeanr on Friday, August 10, 2001 - 11:56 am:
I never leave eggs in the nest,so I can keep them cool, but gather all of them every day and save just the ones I might want to hatch in an egg carton in the basement-the rest in the refrigerator. When a hen stays on the egg she has layed that day--or even is found setting on an empty nest, THEN I give her the eggs I want her to hatch, usually the freshest ones (dated) and the rest that have been saved are still good to eat, even 2 or more weeks old. Eggs to set are best not more than 2 weeks old.
And when she does stay on the nest night and day, and kind of hunkers down and squeals at you when y ou look under her for eggs, that is an indication that she is setting, so mark your calendar 20-21 days after this, so you will be prepared for the chicks when they hatch!! But then you will not want Lisa-Marie laying in the same nest! So you will want to separate Priscilla's nest (with food and water right near by--and room to poop) and provide another nest box for Lisa-Marie. Likely, if she is the same age, she will be setting not much later!! I am sure you will soon be ready to be hatching some dear little white fluffy chicks. Worth waiting for. . . . CJR. . Oh, if you think the eggs might be "started" already, at night with a flashlight right against the egg,to shine through the egg, see if any development has started in any of the eggs in the nest?? If they are all clear like a fresh egg, I would take them all, except one or two marked eggs and then you can start all the eggs at one time, when you are sure she is setting to stay!
By Heidi on Friday, August 10, 2001 - 05:59 pm:
Thanks for the input! Can you believe Lisa-Marie laid her first egg today! She made her own nest on the opposite side of the coop. I removed the egg as Priscilla still has 8 in her nest & I don't want too many to hatch! Actually, my Silkies aren't white! My rooster Elvis is a reddish-tan colour, Priscilla is black with red colouring around her neck and Lisa-Marie is greyish black. I love their size and what they look like...very neat! I could remove the nest box{ its a cardboard box}at night, but sometimes she has laid an egg in the evening! I had better start building another coop so I can separate her if she does set!
By Heidi on Friday, August 10, 2001 - 06:39 pm:
By Cjeanr on Saturday, August 11, 2001 - 12:22 am:
By Melinda (Mina) on Sunday, August 12, 2001 - 02:41 am:
By Heidi on Sunday, August 12, 2001 - 06:05 pm:
I am actually working a night shift presently and when I went home this morning and Priscilla was adamantly sitting on her little nest. She did get off later on to go out to the yard buttt went back on. I have not yet moved Elvis or Lisa-Marie, I am trying to figure out where I can move them to. I guess I'll be building another chicken coop tommorow and move Elvis & LIsa Marie! Any suggestions? I have 2 coops as of now, one with the Silkies & one with a variety of egg layers & a rooster named Ulysses. So I know that Elvis cannot be moved in there as he & Ulysses will fight! By the way, she has 9 eggs under her....she laid another new one but pushed it out of the nest! Will she stop laying?