Single hen

[bellekatz]

My pepperpot Marmite has turned broody for the first time this weekend - or at least I think she has............. Friday and yesterday she was doing the big feathery pancake thing on the eggs in the nesting box going " bop bop bop bop bop". She hardly came out at all -I tried the throwing up in the air thing and the ice box in the nest and ended up shutting the eglu door when the others had laid ( she very kindly moved over a bit to let them lay!!!!!)

 

Today I took two eggs out this morning and cleaned the eglu, and she didnt bother going back in - she spent all afternoon in the run and the dustbath, sometimes going " bop bop bop" but then stopped altogether and was just like the others. Just been out now, and noticed she had gone back onto the nest - and of course Ellie had layed so Marmite had an egg to sit on again. Do you think she knows it not worth getting bothered about if there are no eggs there? This is the first time she has been broody - maybe she doesnt know the rules yet? Can chickens have practice brooding like practice egg laying? And do I have more of this to come???

[pekinpower]

Hi Bellekatz

 

I have had three "broodies". One of them is halfhearted and only sits part time, but the other two would not move off the nest box even when I removed the eggs.

 

The determind hens peck at you when you go near, and when moved from the nest just stay sitting on the floor before running back to the nest again!

 

We put silkie bantam eggs under one of the broodies and now have 5 lovely chicks.

 

I have found that hens can go on and off the brood initally , but once they are trully broody they are very hard to put off

[Egluntyne]

Hmmmm....am I in for more trouble from Kentucky then who was broody for a few days a short while back??

[redfrock]

Tuesday went broody recently too and wouldn't let us near the eggs she had decided to sit on. It was like she had a really bad dose of PMT. She was so bad tempered and narky. She lined the nest with lots of feathers. I used the ice block trick but somebody then tried to lay on it and broke their egg She is back to normal now. She eventually seemed to snap out of it when I decided to leave the pop hole off. I am wondering if the change in weather has also helped.

[Laura & CTB]

Gucci went broody a while back refusing to leave the nest. I used one of the ice packs but she kept kicking it out

 

I shut her out of the eglu for a while - she kept running round it in circles frantically trying to get back in so I dunked her in a bucket of cold water for a while

The same day the weather changed and got cooler so I'll never know if it was the water or the weather that snapped her out of it.