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

[cluckbok]

broody?

 

Ever since we had "Pecky" our Speckledy (since march) she's only laid twice. Last week she laid what looked like a soft shelled egg the size of a budgies and was pinkish in colour. Every morning she keeps going in the eglu before the others and sitting in there for a while in the nestbox, then comes out again, she only does this in the morning and on the odd occasion when she's come back out she's made a fake egg announcement!! . Well today she was doing it again and I got her off the nest and shut the eglu door for the afternoon. The minute I opened it again (because of rain) she was back in there, then out, then in...... and so on. When she's in there she does gather nesting material but she's not feather pulling and she's eating and drinking ok. Do you think she could lay soon or do you think she's semi-broody? I say semi cause she's not in there ALL the time only a short while.

 

Hubby said he wonders whether we should put her in our guinea pig ark for a while, but I wonder whether that's gonna cause a whole lot of grief when it's time to put her back with the others. She's also quite a nervous bird and doesn't like being stroked but she does come over when called. I take it that if they are broody, then they don't lay??

 

sorry about long post!! Thanks alot

[..lay a little egg for me]

Going in and out of the nest box is supposed to be a sign of being egg-bound I think. Hopefully, someone else will be able to confirm and advise. Can you have a look at her and see if you can feel anything in her abdomen or see anything when you look at her vent that looks/feels like an egg? If so, they say that gently steaming the vent area (hold her over steaming...not too hot) water can help it relax enough to pass the egg.

 

Over to the experts....

[cluckbok]

Crikey! I hope not!!

 

I've checked her vent area by looking and it looks perfectly normal. Trying to get hold of her for a thorough look is going to be a nightmare! Perhaps will try and double check tonight once she's gone to bed.

 

Trouble is though she's been like it since beginning of march, we did think it could be that but we read in Practical Poultry that egg bound has to be fixed really quick or they can die. So we were back to the drawing board.

[surferdog]

Hi, this sounds similar to the way Sylvie behaves - she goes broody but she's just not very good at it - first whiff of a grape and she's off.

 

She sits in the nestbox a lot busying herself at tidying it up but when I turf her off she will go and do something else quite happily. If she gets too determined I put ice blocks wrapped in a tea towel (thanks Christian!) under her and that seems to snap her out of it.

[cluckbok]

So while Sylvie is doing this behaviour does she lay any eggs? Maybe ice in the nestbox is a good idea, only after the other two have laid though, could be difficult as the laying times vary each day.

[surferdog]

Yes she normally still lays (but hasn't today ) but she normally lays early afternoon. The other two lay first thing in the morning and if I'm not quick enough to collect the eggs she will sit on them.

 

Took me a while to work out what she was doing - as she is so young I thought she was having problems laying. What she was actually doing was brooding the first two eggs and then adding her own in the afternoon. Now I turf her out as soon as I spot her (unfortunately once she really did want to lay but you know what they say about crying wolf!)