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

[chicken-drummer]

Hi All,

 

One of our girls, Charlie, has gone broody, and is pulling out the feathers on her chest.

 

She started to go broody on Friday afternoon and yesterday morning I noticed she'd pulled out some of the feathers on her chest (she had a small bald patch). I tried giving her a cold water bath yesterday and shutting her out of the nest box for a few hours - but she's still broody.

 

This morning Charlies' bald patch is noticeably bigger. I've given her another cold bath and shut her back out of the nest box again.

 

Has anyone got any suggestions of what else we could try? It's not nice seeing her minus her feathers and I'm worried that if she carries on at this rate she'll soon have a bald chest!

 

Thanks,

[Egluntyne]

It is something they do whilst broody....to line the nest.

 

Not much you can do about it unless you try to snap her out of the broodiness.

 

**Here**

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Molly was a bit oven-ready in the tummy department while she was broody . The feathers do grow back.

 

I've done the dunking, turfing off the nestbox, brick in nestbox routine but the broody cage really seemed to work the best. Two days in there and she was over it (although I still find her sitting on everyone's eggs, given half a chance ). She doesn't fluff up and growl so I'm hoping she's not going broody again.

 

I bought one of * these * and it works well (although I do worry about it not being fox proof if it's not inside the run .

[chicken-drummer]

Thanks for the advice - it's reassuring to know it's not unusual behaviour.

 

I had to open up the nestbox as the other girls were queueing up to go in and Charlies gone back in again. I'm going to invest in a "broody cage" but while I'm waiting for it to arrive I'm off to stick some ice cubes under her!

[Ain't Nobody Here]

If you end up getting the Ebay one, you need to turn it upsidedown and make the tray a roof!

[Richard]

I'm worried that if she carries on at this rate she'll soon have a bald chest!

 

 

 

Yep, that's the way it goes. I've got three with bare chests (hussies that they are) and am just waiting for the others to go the same way.

 

Its a real pain when they go broody.

 

Hurrumph