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

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Here's Buffie's new home until she can go into the eglu on her own.

 

She's got a small bowl of corn in with her and the water containers are just outside with a dustbath also sectioned off in her corner. Will she be ok in here, or should I take the wire down?

 

 

I don't imagine the makers of this cat loo had ever imagined it would be used as a broody nestbox

 

I've made enquiries for some light sussex eggs, which hopefully I'll hear about later...I keep checking my email just in case I missed the blip when it landed in the inbox!!!

 

Sha x

[mrsallen08]

She'll be fine!

Much better than my Pat who is in a large indoor rabbit cage in my spare room!

[Plum]

Bless her. When I first saw the dustbath I thought - how clever litter training a chicken.

[Falkor]

She looks very cozy!

 

I trust you have made other provisions for the cat!

 

So....did you hear about the eggs?

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Cat...what cat....we don't have cats except to use our birdtable as a cafe, poo in our drive, make the dogs bark & chooks shriek their heads off !

 

I do however own 3 litter trays reincarnated as dustbaths and a cat corner loo purchased especially for the little darling to use as a temporary nestbox until the twins go home...yesterday we had a horrid mess made with an egg which obviously didn't like being "fidgeted" against a golf ball Buffie was very good about having a bath though, it had to be luke warm rather than hot as I'd have ended up with scrambled egg in her feathers but DH made it rather cooler than I thought reasonably necessary . She went back into her original nestbox until it got dark, then I moved her into her little cubby hole, where she stayed all day today & was hoiked out this evening for about 15 mins....then she was trying to get back into the nestbox through the wire, dozy girl !

 

Does it matter that she's not in the dark in her box, and can see all the comings & goings as she's parked near the door?

 

I will collect 6 light sussex eggs on the way home from work tomorrow, the chap said he turns them once they are laid & they should be max 2 days old, so would I be ok to slip them under her tomorrow evening, or should I let them settle for 24 hours as per the books? They are coming from about 10 mins/6 miles from home if that makes any difference?

 

And no Em, you didn't shock me with the thought of boy shaped dinners, I shall have to make the decision when they arrive, even if I can't do the deed myself, I have a family of friends who would be able to and would no doubt appreciate the meal ! Law of sod says we'll get 6 boys now !!!

 

Sha x

[atsw]

Would I be ok to slip them under her tomorrow evening, or should I let them settle for 24 hours as per the books? They are coming from about 10 mins/6 miles from home if that makes any difference?

I would let them rest 24hrs ('pointy' end down), and then slip them under her late at night when she's all dozy.

 

Does it matter that she's not in the dark in her box, and can see all the comings & goings as she's parked near the door?

We quite deliberately sectioned the WIR using an expandable fire guard and placed our 'broody box' so the other two could see our broody sitting in the box and visa-versa. Once Di settled into her broody quarters there were no further attempts to re-join the other two. Now the chicks are with us and everyone can easily see everyone else we're hoping the eventual integration of old girls and new hens will be straightforward - at least, that's the plan!

 

Andrew

[laurmurf]

if you're picking up the eggs yourself, then i don't think you'll need to let them settle at all. The farmer will have been doing his bit before you collect them, they'll have had minimum upset in transport and then they're ready to go in my view. At least that's exactly what i did and they're developing nicely.

 

I think the settle time is when they've come through the post and gone through god knows what shaking about.

 

good luck!

[Falkor]

We quite deliberately sectioned the WIR using an expandable fire guard and placed our 'broody box' so the other two could see our broody sitting in the box and visa-versa.

Andrew

 

Oooohhh We have a fire guard that the previous owners left behind.....what a great idea for a mini run within the WIR! guess what i will be doing tonight!

 

And Sha..... I assumed that you had cats standing with their legs crossed whilst you embarked on this hatching plan! Covered cat tray another great idea....i am in need of extra nestboxes so may stop off at the pet shop on the way home.

 

Although I have no experience in handling fertile eggs as the chicks just used to apprear on the farm.... i agree.......if you drive really slowly and avoid the pot holes I would think you could put them straight under buffie

[atsw]

We quite deliberately sectioned the WIR using an expandable fire guard and placed our 'broody box' so the other two could see our broody sitting in the box and visa-versa.

Oooohhh We have a fire guard that the previous owners left behind.....what a great idea for a mini run within the WIR! guess what i will be doing tonight!

Yes, our's was one we were given when the kids were small to protect them from the Open Fire we have in the living room. Ours has various 'flaps' to produce a flat surface at the top of the guard, these need to be dropped, otherwise the chooks jump up onto them! We also hung a tarpaulin above the fireguard to stop chooks jumping over. The whole setup has worked really well.

 

Andrew

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Buffie is now ensconced on her new "family" , I think DH thought I wasn't going to go through with the egg collection yesterday as he greeted me with "well we won't get a holiday now will we"..................... errrr, who hasn't booked any time off & hasn't told me when he can go away so I can book something..........the same as every year ? And now it's firmly my fault....great ! Sorry, firmly off topic there!

 

Questions time....

 

How much should I expect Buffie to eat? She spent most of her ablutions break last evening drinking & ate very little. Should I get her some mealworms to tempt her? She also hasn't been near any of the dustbaths since her bath on Tuesday night, is this a problem? She has a liberal dose of DE in her nestbox as I wondered whether the red mite powder might be too strong for the eggs & affect them in some way?

 

When I turfed her out last night, she'd tucked her glass pot of corn under her belly too.........gosh how wonderful if that hatched into lots of little ramekins I'm sure we've mentioned how intellectually challenged these Orpies are

 

Oh yes, one more question, is it normal for the other Orpies to stop laying when one of the "sisterhood" goes broody....mine seem to have stopped laying, but still sit in the nestboxes

 

Sha x

[Falkor]

Not sure on any of those questions........

 

I broke two of my ramekins today so if Buffie could oblige and hatch me a couple that would be great!

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Yesterday I gave her some scrambled egg, which she suddenly came alive for & snaffled very rapidly...she looks like a zombie most of the time! And a small piece of watermelon disappeared from the bowl I popped inside her nestbox. Today she had a spoonful of brown rice and some more watermelon.

 

I've ordered some mealworms, so will try her on some of them when they arrive. Crikey I'm the clucky one not her !!!!

 

Anyone got any thoughts on the feeding of the expectant one, I don't think I've found anything much in any of my books.................just make sure she gets up to poo, feed & drink. She doesn't seem to be drinking much either which is a little concerning, but her head & neck feathers are growing back as she's away from Willow

 

Should I turf her out twice a day for 10 mins each or just the once for 15-20mins, so she drinks more? I tuck a blanket over her nestbox to keep the other chooks out & the warmth in with the eggs when she's out & about.

 

Sha x

[teri]

buffie will loose some weight while she is sitting but it's nothing to worry about. have you left her to see if she will get up herself? she can leave the eggs for up to half an hour without any problems and they don't need any extra protection or warmth when she is off. my broodie generally left the nest for about 15 minutes twice a day without any damage to her eggs.

as for food i just fed her as i normally would with the odd treat every so often. i also left the feed slightly out of reach so she had to leave her eggs in order to get to it as this encouraged her to poo at the same time. if she can feed without moving she may not bother getting up at all, which means you will have to turf her off.

also can your other girls get to buffies nest when she's not there? you said you put a blanket over to keep your other girls out? if your other girls can get to the nest buffie won't leave it willingly

i'd just leave her to it for a couple of days and see if she gets off herself it's much easier for you if she will good luck with it. and enjoy

[Chook n Boo Mum]

This afternoon I was boiling up my first batch of jam of the season when DS came bombing in screeching "Buffie's on her cage"...........she'd decided to come off the nest herself & managed a vertical takeoff to escape her pen! I think had she been able to lift the cage cup of water & tip the contents down her neck, she would have, bless her she was so thirsty! She then had a snaffle of pellets and some soggy shredded wheat...and the longest dustbath I've seen her have in a long time!

 

I am a happy chook-mummy! She also went back into the nestbox on her own - I had to shut the rest of the rabble out of the WIR so they didn't go in to investigate & scare her off (or cause her to have a hissy fit )

 

Tomorrow she's moving to the eglu & run, so we'll see what she does in there.

 

Teri, the reason I put the blanket over the top of the nestbox is because the top of it should have a filter in it so is open, the blanket stops draughts, damp and marauding chooks when she's out & about & it's pulled over the door. I also hung a shower curtain over the top of her box and her diddy run last night as the forecast was so awful, and I'm very glad I did, it was dreadfully wet when I got up this morning.

 

Sha x

[Lewis]

Looks good

She must like it to have gone back in on her own

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Looks good

She must like it to have gone back in on her own

 

...should I leave her where she is then rather than moving her to the eglu?

 

I'm open to all advice as I know nuffink about broody hens & hatching except what I've read & been told on here!!

 

Sha x

[smanners]

Good luck with the hatch Sha and enjoy raising those .

The good thing about a broody is she should do all the work leaving you lots of time to enjoy the babes and take lots of pics which I look forward to seeing next time we meet in Ikea

When they arrive you'll need to move the superglug but I guess you know that anyway.

Regards

Sophie

[Lewis]

Looks good

She must like it to have gone back in on her own

 

...should I leave her where she is then rather than moving her to the eglu?

 

I'm open to all advice as I know nuffink about broody hens & hatching except what I've read & been told on here!!

 

Sha x

I'd probably put her in the eglu as they're very similar but the eglu will be safer and a better place to raise the chicks. Maybe do it tonight so she won't realise and will wake up to it tomorrow

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Crikey that took an age to load up...I nearly gave up & went to bed !

 

I'd probably put her in the eglu as they're very similar but the eglu will be safer and a better place to raise the chicks. Maybe do it tonight so she won't realise and will wake up to it tomorrow

 

I'll put her in tomorrow night as I have to give the eglu a "once over" after the pekins stayed in it last week.

 

Thanks for your advice Lewis, always appreciated !!

 

Sha x

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Lady Muck is now happily ensconced in her eglu...well as happily as that little minx gets at least! This morning I went outside & I could see about half of her body length hanging over the doorway, but her chest was over the eggs, so they were nice & snuggly, this afternoon I opened the eggport to be greeted by her tail nearly at the top of the hole.........I would suggest that Orpies really are a bit big for an eglu nestbox!!

 

She was none too impressed at being hoiked off the nest again & dumped out on the roosting bars, where she settled down again to try & stop me evicting her..I don't give up that easily, I removed her through the eggport & stuck her in the other end of the run with her corn & water.........and an influx of the other chooks who rather than missing her were desperate for the corn . I closed the door to the eglu to stop the madams venturing in & upsetting mum.......

 

The "comfort break" finished when Peanut had a go at Buffie, who retaliated with lots of flapping feathers & loud shrieks, by the time I got in there Pea had submitted under Buffie's belly, from where I removed her to stop any further differences of opinion .

 

It took dopey drawers a few minutes to work out that her "b-t-b" were at the end of the eglu run & awaiting her attentions, bless her

 

I hope my dad is aware of the responsibility I am placing in his very capable hands next week whilst I am away....!

 

Sha x

[Falkor]

Sha...

 

Gald to hear Buffie has settled nicely into the Eglu.

 

As you say Orps are tend to overflow the nestbox....have you considered taking out the roosting bars and letting her nest in the poop tray?

 

i don`t think you will be able to keep the roosting bars in when the chicks arrive anyways.

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Hi Em,

 

I had a fleeting thought flit through my head about putting the eggs into the poo tray, perhaps I'll carry the thought through this afternoon (or whenever she vacates the nestbox!) to make her a bit more comfy.

 

You know what it's like sometimes, you can't see the wood for the trees ...........well I can't ......other times the blindingly brilliant alternative is there all along!

 

I think what stopped me doing it was the thought that she may inadvertently drag the eggs out with her great big feet & fluffy undercarriage........

 

Sha x

[Falkor]

Hey Sha...

 

How about something a bit like this:

 

Calls on our feline friends again as it is one of my lots spare litter trays

[Chook n Boo Mum]

There we go blinding and brilliant ! Thanks honey!!

 

x

[atsw]

I've taken a very similar approach for our (v big ) Orp. Our chicks hatched in a cardboard box, but have now moved into their brand new with Mum. I've left the bars in, but under-filled the whole area with Aubiose right up to bar level. The idea being there's no holes for the chicks to fall down, but good support for the heavy-weight Orp.

 

If I'd had the before the chicks emerged I'd have removed the bars and filled the whole area with Aubiose as that would have provided a good nest space for her to brood the eggs and a firm/grippy surface for the chicks to take their first tentative steps once hatched.

 

Andrew