Silkies- How many eggs should I expect? How to keep from going broody?

[heebygeebies]

Hello everyone! I just got a little flock of Silkies going. I have ten hens and five roosters.

I've never owned Silkies before so this is all very exciting.

I'm just wondering how many eggs I should expect once they start laying? I have ten hens, would I be getting at least a few eggs a day? I know they don't lay as well as most birds so I am just trying to get a good idea of what I can expect.

And does anyone have any advice on how to keep the hens from going broody besides checking for eggs multiple times a day?

 

[sourland]

Congratulations on your new flock Silkies will generally lay what they regard as a clutch - several weeks to a month, and then they will probably go broody. Take the eggs away several times daily, and they will still go broody. It's just the nature of the breed. Leghorns they are not!

 

[heebygeebies]

Ty ty.

I'm so excited to see my first egg. I am thinking of letting them go broody and have a clutch, at lest sometimes. I've done some reading it seems like when they want to, they will do it.

How many eggs do they typically try to hatch? I've never had a successful broody hen so it would be exciting to see it all happen.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

You can't stop a Silkie from going broody. It's just the nature of the breed. Doesn't matter what you do, doesn't matter if you take away the eggs, a silkie will still want to sit.

A chicken will try to mother as many eggs as you put under her. With a silkie, how many you put under her will depend on whether they are large fowl eggs or silkie eggs. She can probably hatch as many as 12 silkie eggs, but I'd limit her to 6 or so large fowl eggs.

I tend to limit the clutch size for a hen's first hatch. I give mine only four eggs the first time until they prove themselves determined sitters and protective mothers. Then they can have more eggs the next time.

I've never had silkies, but I believe they lay around four eggs a week.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

My Silkies have been giving me around 4-5 eggs each a week. I consider that pretty good. It did take them forever to start laying though. I believe my first girl to lay started at 10 months and my last non laying hen started about a week ago a just over a year!
Two of the girls have gone broody so far. One gave up easily and is back to laying. The other wouldn't let it go so I bought her some bantams from TSC since its been cold and snowing.
I would limit the number of eggs you let them hatch. For starters, in my coop at least, it seems one goes broody and one or two more follow. Next, just because they can sit on 12 Silkie eggs doesn't mean its a good idea. 12 chicks is alot to keep up with. 12 chicks are easy to cover when they're itty bitty day olds, but what about when they're much bigger 2 week olds? Just some food for thought. Good luck