3.6m Omlet Chicken Run for sale, Brand New in Boxes, Milton Keynes (MK19)

[cocktail_chick]

One of my girls just won't leave the nesting box - she's not laying or sitting on any eggs and indeed, stopping the others from laying any too? I'm assuming she's broody, but why and what can I do to stop her?

[Chook n Boo Mum]

If she looks like this

 

 

then she probably is broody

 

She needs to be removed every time she goes in the nest until she gets the idea, or needs dunking in a bucket of cold water several times a day until she gets the idea, or putting an a broody cage for 3 days and nights with only food & water for company, no bedding to snuggle in to and plenty of fresh air wafting around her warm nether regions.

 

She won't love you very much all the time she is broody & you are trying to brak the mood, but soon your lovely friendly little Pekin will be back.....until the next time

 

Bloss went broody again about a month after this first time, but I was able to let her have eggs the second time & she's now a very happy mum of 5 one week old chicks ......this of course is the other alternative to breaking the mood...give in to her maternal instincts & raise little ones, as long as you have arrangements for any boys.

 

Good luck

 

Sha x

[cocktail_chick]

Dunk her in water??? Do you really submerge her head? OMG this is crazy stuff keeping chickens! Now she's laid this tiny malteser sized egg, what's all that about? I really appreciate the help Sha. x

[Egluntyne]

Article from the FAQ section about broody hens. **Click**

[Chook n Boo Mum]

I've never gone the dunking route, by I think it would just be her body, it would be rather cruel to dunk her little head in my book

 

I'm sure it gives you all the details in Egluntyne's link......I'm no good at "internal" links!!

 

How old is she? Has she just started laying? That might explain the amount of time she's spending in the nestbox "practising" and the diddy egg she's just laid, or perhaps she's not fully broody & is still filling her nest with brood as she would in the wild.

 

Sha x

[cocktail_chick]

Read the link, most useful but still undecided as to what route to take, ie., dunk, cage or leave her to it! She's 10 months and been laying beautifully until her weird little egg today. She's incredibly hot when I pick her up, does she feel uncomfortable do you think? I'd like an ice bath if I felt like that I think.

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Just thought of another remedy......tuck a frozen ice pack into her nestbox, wrapped in a newspaper of old cloth so it doesn't give her an ice burn.........that should cool her a little

 

The thing is if she isn't leaving the nest to eat & drink properly, she will quickly lose condition...if she's sitting on eggs there is a natural end to her confinement, if she isn't then it could go on for longer than the usual 3 weeks as they don't have a calendar to check their dates If she loses condition it opens her up to all kinds of nasties, not least starvation, crop problems and mites are very partial to a low chook

 

Really, a spell in the cage or a series of dunkings is by far the best & kindest course of action.............experience can be hard learned believe me

 

On a brighter note, where in Hampshire are you......being the nosy minx I am (you can ignore this or PM me if you'd rather keep your location quiet)

 

Sha x

[cocktail_chick]

We've been regularly dunking her, surprisingly she absolutely loves it, she's emulating the swans on the river and thinks she's one of them now! I'm using a small washing basin, shallow enough so that she can touch the bottom but deep enough that she can be pushed gently down and submerge, albeit briefly. I'm not sure it's having any effect though ...... The nesting box is lined with ice blocks covered in tea-towels and unless I lock them out of there altogether, she just sits on them 'chilling'!! She's eating, not much, but giving her fresh leaves from the veggie garden and moving them every other day to fresh ground. I'm just going to let her get on with it and keep going as I am and hopefully she'll get bored with it

 

Sha - I live near Odiham x

[Laura & CTB]

One of my cochins has been broody now for 3 weeks - every night she sleeps on ice packs (I think she loves it) Every afternoon when I get homes from work she gets booted off the nest and into the garden where she quite happily spends the rest of the day eating and drinking and dustbathing with the others.

 

As long as she eats and drinks ok I intend to let her get on with it.

 

As you say, let's hope they get bored with it soon !

[ajayb]

I went through this with three of mine - one after the other - last year and I did just think 'let them get on witrh it, it's natural behaviour'. However, rightly or wrongly, I decided to 'nip it in the bud' this time round as I think it makes the other chickens aggressive towards the broody; causes the others to lay their eggs in strange, alternative locations and may increase your chances of getting lice in the coop (all that superheated chicken and straw!).

 

Anyhow, we made a temporary broody cage (approx 1m x 1m x1m) out of sheep hurdles, covering half of the 'roof' with tarpaulin and ditto the escapable non-meshed areas of the hurdles (a dog crate would be equally suitable I think and you can pick second hand ones up on eBay). We placed it over grass and put the broody in first thing in the morning, letting her out when all the others have laid (late afternoon) but keeping the door to the coop shut until an hour before bedtime. We give her food and water in the cage and, after 3 days of this, they seem to snap out of it. I don't think it's cruel, as they can still free-range for a few hours and it's better for inter-chicken relationships, as they can still see each other (and the others do go over to the cage during the day) but none of them is being prevented from laying.

 

Hope that helps.

[cocktail_chick]

Thank you everyone for your help and advice. I got a bit fed up with the dunking and after 4 days she was still at it having recruited one of her friends to sit with her (not hot and broody!) - so now I have 2 of them sitting around. Laying has got to an all time low, possibly 1 per day so I've just decided the easiest thing is to turf them out of the nesting area for several hours each day, prohibiting any of them from it. This ensures that they are eating properly and keeping themselves in shape, no pulling feathers or beating each other up yet - fingers and everything crossed that doesn't happen. I use shredded paper from the office in their bed so I've been changing that every day and chucking it on the compost heap, so hoping to avoid mites etc., - they're moved to fresh grass every few days as they live only the extended cage area as I've got 2 dogs who would love to play with them and lots of other wild birds flying. How long does it last and will all of them go through this phase?