Smart Feeder - Light sensor values

[skye]

How do you know if your chook is definitely broody or just wants to laze around in the nesting box for a few days?!! I really hope she isn't actually poorly - she certainly seems feisty enough.

 

My Orpington (typical broody breed!) has been spending lots of time in their over the past couple of days. Yesterday I just gently took her out and she was fine with the rest of the girls for the rest of the day. However today she is mad for that nest! I took her out of the cube a couple of times but she just sat blown up with her wings out flat on the floor where I left her for a while before trying to get back in! In the end I've blocked it off and she is going crazy runnning backwards and forwards shouting, bless her.

 

At what point does one get the broody cage out, is that for any occasion of broodiness or just for prolonged periods? Or is it ok to let nature take its course as long as she is getting food and water in fact?

 

Thanks

skye x

[Daphne]

She sounds broody to me - pancake impressions are the biggest give away, followed by the fact that ill birds rarely rush about shouting

 

Its up to you what you do about it. A bird can go the 3 weeks (plus extra days) brooding and not hatch if you make sure she eats and drinks (you should physically lift her off if you go this route). The reason its often recommended not to let them brood unless you want to hatch is that it is physically debilitating - they put a lot of energy into keeping something warm, and some of them just seem to shut down, not eat, get thin and get ill. I only have one broody and she's a good one, I trust her so I let her sit and hatch. If any of the others try it (they haven't yet) I'll break them because I know they are a bit nervous and I don't trust them to go the full distance. I'll do it by incessantly shutting them out, dunking their breasts, and as a last resort using the broody cage - because I work from home and can do this. But I do know that actually the best route (most effective) is to go straight to the cage; I'm just a softie .

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Sounds pretty broody to me

 

I'd get the broody cage out now as the other girls will want to go in to lay & she'll be a pain if she's hogging the nestbox...and whipping their eggs before they've even stood up to leave if my Pekin was anything to go by

The sooner you get her in the cage, the quicker she'll go off the idea, if you leave her with access to the nestbox for much longer her temperature will continue to rise & stay there for longer

 

Good luck with her

 

Sha x

[skye]

I feel like the cruellest chicken mummy ever

 

I returned from Pets at Home with my dog crate, preparing to put it together before night fall for our Ruby. Got to the run to find no sign of Ruby. Looked in the nesting box to find that she had bashed the obstacle out of the way of the entrance to the nesting box, and was roosting on top of one of the big tubs I had put in there to prevent her getting comfy!

 

Silly girl, I thought.

 

No, silly me. When I picked her up, there was a warm egg under her. A very Ruby-esque egg.

 

Since then she has run around with her friends outside, no interest in the nest.

 

Surely she can't be broody if she has just laid an egg? I feel horrifically guilty if all she wanted to do today was lay an egg in peace. Poor little soul. She seems none the worse for the experience though...

 

Still though. There are the unexplained things. The feathers she had put in the nest (apparently her own plucked ones). The lying around in there for hours... How flipping HOT the clutch of eggs I took her off was yesterday...

 

The dog crate is in our car port and she is now in the run slurping water and troughing pellets quite happily

 

 

skye x

[Space Chick]

I have one girl that has the start of broody tendencies, but lays for a day or two - almost as if she is trying to make a clutch of eggs for herself, however, when she starts pulling feathers out of her breast in the nest thats when I know it is time to deploy the broody cage.

 

In fact, she is in the broody cage right now, since yesterday

[skye]

Gawd Space Chick. I've just got home after voting to find her back on the nest AGAIN!

 

You've answered my question. So they can still lay a couple after the broodiness starts.

 

There were her feathers all over the nest yesterday morning!

 

Not sure whether to put her in the broody cage for the night now, or start her in the morning if she's still doing it

 

Do you guys keep the cage outside in the run at night?

 

Thanks!! skye x

[skye]

Ok - she's in there for the night now, and for the next three days and two nights following that

 

bless er

 

skye x

[Chook n Boo Mum]

If the run is fox proof then yes she should be fine in the cage in the run...just protect her from any rain/strong wind. If it's not fox proof then tuck her into a shed or garage, somewhere cool until the morning, then bring the cage out, propped up on bricks so air can circulate around her nether regions & leave her somewhere safe with food and water............keep her in the cage for 2-3 days & she should be back to normal

 

Sha x

[Barkisland]

Yes, they do lay for a few days into the broody spell and stop when they think they have a clutch worthy of hatching. Mary, my Light Sussex, immediately turned broody at the first sign of spring - last year she was perpetually broody and only laid for a week or two in between each hormonal phase. Fortunately she is extremely docile when broody, so I can pick her up and put her out to eat, drink and do those gigantic broody poos that any donkey would be proud of

Unfortunately, I never had any success with the sin bin and in the end I just resigned myself to her regular spells of brooding. She has pulled out loads of her pretty feathers though.

[skye]

Thanks so much for the advice guys. I really appreciate it.

 

skye x

[skye]

Just to give you all an update, my little orpy Ruby was placed in her broody cage for three nights and most of three days, (i let her out to fr with her friends a couple of times), after which she has now completely forgotten about the nest and is out playing and getting up to mischief just like normal again.

 

Thanks for all the advice,

 

skye x

[cluckingmad]

mental note - get broody cage sorted..

 

Our cochin Pumpkin has now been broody SINCE MARCH We've been away in Japan so parents were looking aftee the girls for us and were rather stumped as to what to do, so they just kept taking her out of the nest (much to her disgust) and shutting the door so she couldn't get back in

 

To add insult to injury, Lilly our light sussex then decided she felt a bit maternal too and went to join Pumpkin... imagine the annoyance of the other girls when tryign to lay, only to be faced with two giagantic feathery pancakes taking up the nest box

 

Poor old Pumpkin is now rather bare in the rear department and Lilly has a pecked comb from the others having a go at her... on the plus side we're only been back a week and they seem to be going off the idea of brooding (the buckets of cold water must've helped then Cruel Mummy that I am...!)

[ValerieR]

One of my pekins is broody - constantly turfing her out of the eglu and dunking her in cold water hasnt helped. I don't have a dog cage but I do have a couple of pet carriers .... would that do instead if I didnt put any nesting material in it or is it too small? Do I need to buy a dog cage?? Cheers

[Chook n Boo Mum]

As long as there's plenty of ventilation around her nether regions & she can't get all snuggly in the cat carrier you should be ok....the idea is to reduce her temperature, then she gets fed up with sitting & goes on her merry way

 

Congratulations on your success Skye, and good luck Cluckingmad

 

Good luck

 

Sha x

[cluckingmad]

Righty-ho then... think I may be modifying an old indoor rabbit hutch this evening then... remove plastic base tray, cable tie bit of weld mesh to make an airy bottom (somehow that sounds really, really wrong).. job done

[Chook n Boo Mum]

but we know what you mean

 

Sha x

[cluckingmad]

jolly good

 

Suzy may well be joining the naughty group of broodies too it seems... didn't think sultans were too much of a broody type, but apparently she has other ideas

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Some just don't read the instruction manual for their breed ...I've got Blossom a buff pekin sitting on some fertile ( ) eggs at the mo, her "run sister" Holly (MF Pekin) has been in the nest box since last night as far as I know, & is in the process of making Jasmine an Ara xPekin's life as uncomfortable as possible. Jas is a creature of habit & always lays her egg in the same corner so was trying to sit ON Holly when I peeked in just now

 

Decision time........more eggs or the broody cage

 

Sha x

[cluckingmad]

 

I'd love to try hatching eggs under one of the girls when they go broody next time but common sense is sadly prevailing thus far (i.e. we live in an urban area and while our hens are the stars of the neighbourhood a cockeral would not be good and while I love the idea of being all Barbara Goode in the Good Life, I'm not sure I could cull one of my own baby boys!!).

 

So, another trip to Wernlas coming on I feel.... once some of our older girls are no longer with us and so we have mroe space, obviously (cough cough)