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

[Phosphorus]

There was me thinking I only had a problem with a possible partial moult

 

Its official - Roast, our Black Rock, is hogging the nesting box, sitting on anyones eggs she can get to, most annoyed when I move her off and take them (especially when I have put her out in the run in the morning!) and has pulled all her breast feathers off.

 

Think I am pretty safe in saying she has gone into brood mode!

 

Have read on here a bit and think am going to approach as follows (only one Cube and run at the moment):

 

- Move her out of nest box again, once Gemma has laid;

- If everyone else has laid for the day bar her - block the nest off completely for rest of the day;

- Think about putting in ice blocks from freezer - but difficult as 6 other hens are in lay;

- feed her tuna to up the protein and put some codliver oil on layers pellets.

 

Does this sound about right? Should I start the tuna and codliver oil yet or try to break her habit first?

 

If I can't break her habit will it be okay to let her work it out - subject to moving her off eggs everymorning and putting her out in run with the food and water so that she eats and drinks? She seems to be letting the other girls in to lay without a fuss.

 

I thought hybrids were less likely to go broody

 

Oh and I will get some barrier louse powder and give her a good douse in next few days as well as told she is less likely to dust bathe

 

Does this mean she might do this for me again next spring when I might actually want a broody hen????

[jools+6]

i thought hybrids were less likely to go broody too . i've got 6 black rocks and so far so good , they are too busy destroying everything to be bothered i hope . how old is she ?

[Phosphorus]

Nearly ten months. My maran cross seams to be doing the same (speckeldy) - I've closed the run to all the others and let her back into the nesting box incase I am being cruel and she does actually need to lay an egg - she's been in their 40 mins now though. 10 mins longer and it is being blocked off from her as well for the day

 

Cruel cruel chicken mum

[Butty]

Hi there

Must be the season for it! One of my Pepperpots is spending longer and longer in the nestbox and is making some very odd noises. She lets the others in to lay but complains bitterly when I remove the eggs. I have been taking her out whenever I notice that she is in there.

[Phosphorus]

Yep that sounds like my girls (two are at it now) - puffs herself up like a football so that she can cover as much area as possible. Getting used to the idea now - poor things keep going in and out of the cube - even though I have blocked the nest. Can chickens get dementia????

[Egluntyne]

Of all my chickens, only the Pepperpots go broody.

[Phosphorus]

Feeling really guilty for shutting off the nesting area - poor Gemma is going in and out of the cube, she forgets each time it is blocked. Keep panicing that she really does need to lay (she laid yesterday and every day before) but she has pulled out a lot of breast feathers and everytime I let her in the nesting area she sits there for an hour plus and produces nothing. Puffs up like an aggressive football too.

 

Me thinks the hen does protest too much

[TopCat]

Yep, here too. Went away for a couple of days last week and left a brick in the nest box to stop my pepperpot sitting. She started laying again yesterday but there are already feathers in the nest again. I think I might have to get a crate if she keeps doing it. She's cross with me at the moment cos I turfed her off the nest last week and replaced the egg with an ice-pack wrapped in a tea-towel - cruel mummy!

 

My GR isn't laying yet so no arguing over the nest box ... yet.

 

Tracey

[Phosphorus]

Aaaagh is there a season for this? Will they go off the idea when the really cold weather settles in

[Helen&Lee]

My Brahma's have been broody since March. ...At first it was all four at the same time - after that they have taken it in turns.

 

If I'm really strict I spend a week putting ice blocks in every morning,then I go to work, the chooks still lay in the nesting box but it deters them from staying in too long...

 

When I get home, I collect the eggs, remove the broody ( she is probably in there ) remove the ice blocks and fill the nesting box with large plant pots, leaving them in until the morning.

 

If I follow this through for a week it works, and its filling the nesting box at night that seems to be essential for me.

 

They seem to have got a little more half-hearted about it in the last month and have become 'part time' broody's - meaning they pop out to eat more often.

 

I'm expecting, as the temps drop for them all to completely snap out of it.....but then we are going into winter so I still probably won't get any eggs.