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[tonywig]

Hi all.

 

My Pepperpot changed behaviour the other day.

 

A couple of days ago she seemed to be in the nest box for an age (she is always last to lay in the mornings) so left her alone. It went on and on. After about 2 hours of this I decided I'd better intervene and see if she was OK. She was sat in the nest box and as I opened the hatch she started (more or less) growling at me. I gently moved her and she stomped off (definitely not a happy chicken) to reveal three eggs (one from each of them) as usual.

 

My first thought was she might be broody. I read up a (little) bit and this confirmed my thoughts BUT she has continued to lay.

 

Previously when I went out to lockgthem in for the night all three would be in the main area of the cube settled down for the night, now she is in the nest box.

 

Previously when I opened the lid at night (to check they were all in before locking up) they would cluck gently, now she "growls" at me.

 

Previously a happy, friendly, young lady always first to run over and see me and crouch down for some attention (I assume that's a good thing), now she fluffs herself up and runs away "growling"..

 

She looks healthy enough (comb same as normal etc) but, as a newbie, I am concerned there may be something I don't recognise that is causing her distress.

 

When they are allowed out to free range (from early evening once someone gets home) she wanders around happily enough.

 

Hard to tell if she is eating OK but I've seen her drinking and, as I say, she looks fine.

 

Should I be concerned?

 

Thanks

[Tweety]

Hi Tony,

 

It sounds to me as if she is broody. One of my broody girls laid an egg in the first couple of days of broodiness too, but there has been nothing since then. If she seems healthy otherwise, I wouldn't be worried about her but try to make sure that she is eating and drinking.

[Stevie]

My Pepperpot acted similiar just prior to going full blown broody few weeks ago.I'd nip this in the bud quick and make her life as uncomfortable as possible by putting her in a puppy crate for 2-3 days.

 

Mine stopped laying for 8 days when she went broody.

[Purplemaniacs]

Hi Tonywig

 

Our Merrydale Sussex was just like this before she became broody, in the end she spent 3 days in the broody crate (upturned dog crate) which stopped the broodiness but she has not started laying again so far.

 

Chrissie

[Mrs Kettle]

Do try to nip in the bud as soon as you can - our Sussex was broody for 9 long eggless weeks shortly after coming into lay...

[Purplemaniacs]

Hi Mrs Kettle

 

Its nice to know that your Sussex went broody so soon, our Merrydale Sussex had only been laying for about a month when she went broody, I imagined they only went broody when they were older and had been laying for some time. WRONG

 

If another shows signs of going broody I will act quickly next time

[tonywig]

Thanks for all the advice.

I'll try and make life a little less comfy for her but if she persists I'll just let her get on with it.

 

She IS eating and drinking OK.

[tonywig]

Just thought I'd update this in case it's of any use to future newbies (like myself).

 

About three weeks have passed. Due to our home timetable it was difficult to make sure she never had a nice warm egg (laid by one of her friends) to sit on but we did our best to turf her off whenever we could.

To be honest I didn’t fancy making her life TOO uncomfortable but we did put a large-ish flower tub (empty of course) into the nesting area of our cube which eventually stopped her going in there (we initially had some amusing episodes of finding she had battered the tub into an upright position and then sat in it).

 

She spent about a week sat in the cube (roosting area) and was difficult to coax out even with the most favourite of treats and to be honest was starting to look a bit sad (comb droopy and generally looking sad) but in the last few days she is back to herself much more and is out and about with the other girls each day and eating for Britain. We did lose some Gingernut eggs as they had to lay in the roosting area and one or two got trampled but nothing terrible.

 

Last night I took the tub out of the nest area and this morning found an egg (from one of the Gingers I think) in there with no Pepperpot sat on top

I think the worst is over and I've learned loads (mostly from people on the forum - thanks) and will be better prepared next time.

 

I managed to get hold of her yesterday (another good sign - she is friendly again) and she appears to have semi-plucked her belly (which I assume is normal) but is otherwise fit and well.

 

All I can say is …. Phew.

[Seagazer]

I'm glad your Pepperpot has come out of it. I have locked the door to the cube to stop my Pepperpot going up there. Think I might have to invest in a puppy crate - I have one already for Cookie but it is nearly as big as the run so that won't work!

 

If I use a small puppy crate will it be ok in the normal cube run as I won't be able to have it outside as Cookie would not leave it alone.

[Purplemaniacs]

I put our dog/puppy crate next to the run lifted up on bricks but we only have an eglu so not enough space in the run for it. It does mean that I have to bring it into the house at night.