# Is my hen broody ALREADY?



## jstringerrn75 (Oct 24, 2015)

So my beautiful, sweet speckled Silkie, Sunny, was my first hen to start laying- probably about 4 weeks ago. We were on vacation last week and came back today, to her sitting in her box on an egg (we don't have a roo). She let me pick her up, easily, and I took the egg. I put her down in the run. She ate, drank and acted normal and then got right back in the box and didn't move the rest of the day. Is she really broody already? And what do I do now? How do I break her of it?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

She only laid one egg and is now perched in the nest? That doesn't sound right. She should have laid multiples before going broody, ten or twelve at least.

If she is broody it's just better to leave her be. Remove the egg though and just let her sit. She'll quit when nothing hatches. What is needed is turning off the hormones that have driven her to want to hatch, we don't have that ability. I have used a young roo in the past to help break a few but other than that, I let them be.


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## jstringerrn75 (Oct 24, 2015)

She has been laying for about 4 weeks- almost daily. She was the first of my hens to start laying. How long can I expect her to be broody?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

She might quit rapidly or set out the entire 21 days. There really is no way to know just what it is they're going to do.

Being as it is her first time, you might break her just by aggravating her. Taking her off the nest repeatedly. Try locking her out of the nest. Problem is, she'll turn around and go broody again in a very short time. 

Silkies are some of the worst about broodiness.


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## BikerChick (Jul 13, 2012)

A pullet can brood successfully before laying her first egg I'm not going to tell you it's common. Just that it happens. So yes, it's possible that your girl is broody.


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## Feline (Nov 8, 2015)

I currently have 2 out of my 3 silkies broody. One of them for the second time, and she was only born in April 
I have given up trying to break them out of it. I did that with Gonzo the first time she did it and she hated me for it. This time she is happy for me to stroke her and chat to her while I am cleaning out the coop around her as she knows I will let her sit on her precious rubber eggs 
I really miss seeing Elmo and Gonzo wandering around the garden during the day at the moment.


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