[silverteen]

my one silkie hen has gone broody, she was spending a fair bit of time in the nesting box, ive removed the eggs daily and when checking her today i noticed shes plucked all the hair off an area of her chest, which i presume is to have contact with the eggs she wants to hatch!

what can i do to stop this? should i shut the coop up in the day so she cant get back in once she comes out in the morning?

any advice? im just a bit concerned as the temperature is below freezing most nights now and a bald chest cant be good for her, although you dont notice it when shes walking about as its covered with other feathers.

will she just snap out of it? im getting some fertile eggs next week for an incubator, would she look after one?   

[bantam novice]

  You are correct when you say that hens pluck out their chest feathers when they go broody.  This is so that they can warm the eggs more effectively. 

I have successfully hatched out fertile eggs from under a broody hen.  She would probably sit on more than one.  It is not a good idea to hatch out a lone chick as it will need company.  You are probably best letting broody hen sit on three or four eggs.

You will have to consider that it will be harder work for her in this weather and you will need separate accommodation for her and her chicks.  Chicks can't maintain their body temperature until they become fully fledged at about six weeks.  She will be doing all the work.  She will need food and water in easy reach in her broody coop and it needs to be in a reasonably sheltered spot where she can get out once a day for her pooh and feed session.  You may have to take her physically of her eggs once a day if she is very broody or she could end up starving herself to death.

[silverteen]

how can i stop her going broody so she goes back to normal?

[rileyfin]

Hi, I only have silkies I love them 
Hate to tell you but you may not be able to break her out of being broody. You probably already know that silkies are well known for being very broody. I have found that some are worse than others.
One of my hens, Mildred, is virtually permanently broody, she snaps out of it for a few days and then sits on nothing for weeks , I hve tried everything and nothing works.

If I lock her out of the nesting box she finds somewhere else to sit, she is a great mum though.

If you do let her sit eggs try and make sure the broody is well insulated, silkies are quite hardy but she is bound to feel the cold if she is on her own and doesnt have anybody to snuggle up to.

I have other silkies that hardly ever go broody and if they do they snap out of it after a few days if they have nothin to sit, ya gota love em 
All the best for Christmas

[Lindeggs]

I'm with the others - Silkies are notoriously broody and it would be much easier for everyone if you gave her some eggs to hatch rather than trying to talk her out of being broody!

I have had two hens go broody in the last few weeks and gosh it's hard to persuade them to stop!  The stress of locking them away from the nest hardly seems worth it, and if I had eggs for them to hatch I would definitely prefer that option.

Do you have a nice cosy place where you can keep your silkie so she can sit on her eggs in comfort?  It needs to be dry and draft-free, and if it is a fairly small enclosed space she will be able to warm it a bit with her body heat.   Can you set up some kind of insulated box with a thick layer of wood shavings for her to sit on?