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

[quickcluck]

 

 

We are not sure if harriet is broody, but as she's hogging the nest box, fluffing and growling alot, and when we picked her up to turf her out she was REDhot!

 

Sooooooo we dunked her twice today...... man did she have the hump!

 

Any advice?

 

We feel bad as she then laid an egg!

[Lewis]

I like the rubber ducks!

[Saronne]

Sorry to chuckle, but that IS a funny picture. She looks sooo cross! And the rubber ducks...

[Guest]

Poor chicken at least she will have a clean butt

[feemcg]

Poor thing......sorry I don't get the point of putting your hen in cold water .....I doubt that's going to alter her hormones . When mine have gone broody they usually take about 10 days to snap out of it then start laying.

[quickcluck]

I read somewhere that if you lower the body temperature it may help, and as it was a lovely day and she was scorching hot we didn't think it would do her any harm. We are trying to keep here out of the nest box asap and close the door after they have all laid.... but she is very fluffed up and growly.

 

We've never experienced this before and are at a bit of a loss to be honest. I dont think we are brave enough to exclude her, so think we'll have to weather the storm and see how she goes.....

[Chickvic]

She does look a little bit put out and I love the rubber ducks too!

[Egluntyne]

Lowering the temperature is supposed to snap the hormones out of broody mode.

 

I borrowed a dog crate the other week as one of mine was very broody. It worked its magic within the expected 3 days, so there must be something in it.

[bigmommasally]

Love the Pictures they are great - did dunking her work?

 

Alice (my Orp) and Mary (My Silkie) are both broody at the moment Alice has been broody for nearly 2 weeks now and isn't showing any signs of snapping out of it. Mary joined her about 5 days ago. If dunking them in cold water works I might try it next weekend if the weather is nice.

 

I presume they will eventually snap out of it and there is no harm in letting it run its course?

 

[ClaireG]

Great pic, i to love the rubber ducks I had to resort to a dog crate for one of mine.

[Egluntyne]

I presume they will eventually snap out of it and there is no harm in letting it run its course?

The snag is, that if they are determined, they can lose a huge amount of weight and condition and they become a magnet for redmite.

[Doodle]

I've only had one broody so far. She's called Nora and man, she did Broody with a capital 'B'....it went on and on and on....I tried dunking several times but it didn't work.

 

In the end, I put some straw inside a cat carrier and put the cat carrier inside the Cube. I've now bought some rubber eggs in readiness for the next time, so she has summat to sit on! The cat carrier was like her own private bedroom and she could get on with the business of being narky whilst the other two got on with the business of just being chickens!

[Omletina Kyckling]

.....the little rubber ducks just crack me up....love it!! Hope it works!

[feemcg]

I know the theory behind 'dunking' is to lower the temperature, I just think it must be quite distressing for the hen. I isolated KT in the spare eglu run with no access to the nest. She eventually snapped out of her broodiness after about 10 days. Some peple have tried ice-packs too.....I can see how that might work as if the ice-pack is in the nest, it would discourage the hen from sitting on it.

[Valkyrie]

We tried ice packs, but the little minx kicked them to one side! She is now in a DIY box inside the cube run. The others don't like the new box, but at least they have stopped whingeing now that the nest box isn't being hogged by our broody.

Next time we are going to put her in our old rat cage (invert it and take out the platforms) and see if that works - now that I know the first signs of broodiness in my girls.

[Woodcat]

Well at least you have a clean chook now..... and judging by the expression one who isn't going to talk to you for weeks..... i know it's mean to laugh but that pic is amusing

[quickcluck]

Well today I came home from work and there she was in the nest box!!! have chucked her out and there were 6 eggs!!! So she has laid today. Do broody hell still lay??

[tidygirlsuk]

great pictue

[Helen&Lee]

I know the theory behind 'dunking' is to lower the temperature, I just think it must be quite distressing for the hen. I isolated KT in the spare eglu run with no access to the nest. She eventually snapped out of her broodiness after about 10 days. Some peple have tried ice-packs too.....I can see how that might work as if the ice-pack is in the nest, it would discourage the hen from sitting on it.

 

 

In my second year of persistant broodies -I can say I've tried everything but a broody cage.

Last year I laid ice blocks in the nesting box end to end every morning and changed them again for fresh ice blocks when I got home from work for weeks and weeks, they just sat quite happily on them to no avail!

 

If I'm home during the day I shut them out the cube but then they just find a nice comfortable spot and settle down.

 

I also had a broody over this winter - I thought when I was having to crack the ice in their water trough during the day that they'd soon snap out of it but they weren't in a rush!

 

Yes, they do lose alot af weight - I lift them at least twice a day and also tend to feed them a bit more corn than usual - layers pellets aren't so important if they are not laying..

 

Fortunately for me the broodies don't bother the other chooks and they still squeeze themselves into the nesting box to lay.