4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[bryherdian]

Can anyone please give me some advice. I have 6 small Warrens of various colour, recently acquired at point of lay. Thats about 3 weeks ago. One of them seems to have ´gone broody´already which, as a beginner, has surprised me. She is showing all the recognised signs, including hogging the favourite nesting box and being aggresive. I do not have the facilities to remove her completely from the run without disturbing the other 5. I let them out of the pen after they have laid but they need to return for water and any food they might want. I have to go away for 5 days shortly so do not have time to ´cure´ her before I go and must leave them in the hands of someone who knows even less than me. I thought that I could leave foster dad with simple instructions as to feeding and housing, but this situation has thrown a spanner in the works. Any advice will be very welcome. A few of the others are either laying elsewhere or not laying at all at the moment. Many Thanks.

[Egluntyne]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

 

If you dunk her several times a day in cold water it can cool her down sufficiently to snap her out of it.

 

 

Can you get hold of some of those frozen blue ice pack thingies? If so...put a freshly frozen one in the nest every 4 hours or so and it might achieve the same. It worked for one of my girls last year.

 

Could you beg steal or borrow a wire dog crate? Raise it up on bricks, put food and water bowls in it and confine her to it. The draught from below, and no where to sit , and the light will do it quickest of all. (You might want to move it into a shed at night for fear of foxes).

 

Good luck.

[bryherdian]

Hello Egluntine,

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply to my problem. I will certainly try what you suggest, but sadly it will have to wait until I return from England. I have made another nesting box for the rest of the girls so I am hoping that it will not be too late to ´treat´ Mario when I get back. I wonder if her name has made her broody? Perhaps she has a personality problem. My 2 year old grandson named her and no amount of persuasion would persuade him to change the name to Maria! PS. It looks like one of the others is following suit, Julia is showing odd signs. I must be doing something wrong.