cloud Posted May 7, 2012 Share Posted May 7, 2012 Coco's been broody now for a few weeks. She sleeps in the nest box and is all puffed out and fractious in the morning. We've been lifting her out on to the ground and she wonders off, throwing bit and pieces over her shoulder, but she soon mixes with the other hens, and doing what hens do. I've been acting as door keeper in the morning and letting the other hens back in but keep her out, otherwise she goes straight back in to the nest box and puffs up again. I can't always do this as I have to leave the pop hole open when I go to work if they've not al laid, but mostly they lay early. I wondering how long this is likely to last. She's been broody for almost three weeks but did keep laying for the first four or five days. Her appetite seems to be coming back as she actually headed for the Grub today whereas normally she's been ignoring it and heading for the pop hole at any opportunity. Is this a good sign? Is there any other signs to look for that would indicate the broody phase is almost over? When she get out of this mood will she start laying immediately, or is there a period where she's not laying but also not broody? I don't what to hoiking her out of the nest box if she going to lay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salop Chuck Posted May 7, 2012 Share Posted May 7, 2012 Hi cloud Check out the posting entitled "First experience of a broody". Loads of people are dealing with broody hens and there is a fantastic resource on the best way to deal with broodiness plus some helpful photoes. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahelliott Posted May 7, 2012 Share Posted May 7, 2012 maybe you could try putting her in the 'sin bin' - just a crate/pet carrier away from her friends this made my Esmee shap out of it fairly quickly last year! alternatively you could try dunking her in cold water (it sounds a bit OTT i know, but broodys have a much higher body temp to keep the 'babies' warm, and if you lower her body temp, theoretically she may stop being broody) in my experience it takes a good few days and sometimes over a week until they lay again. they're a pain i know. i have hybrid girls who arent meant to go broody.. well I had a constant battle with Esmee last year and now her sister Yvie thinks its funny to be broody. I just kick her out and give her some treats and she soon forgets about it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud Posted May 7, 2012 Author Share Posted May 7, 2012 I'm happy to let her broody phase end naturally. We don't really have room for a broody cage or separate pen at the moment. To be honest, we have enough eggs from the other three. Is there any other disadvantage of letting her be broody other than less eggs and a few feathers lost She's eating okay spend most of the tome doing hen things wit the others? She's still the fastest hen to the meal worms and has recently Ginger seems to have taught her to jump for them (must post photos one day). When she first went broody we tried to keep her out the nest box and thought we had succeeded, but we had to leave the pop hole open for the other girls and she spend most of two days in the coop while we were at work. It was very noticeable that in those few days Bettie took the head-hen position from her. It ended with bettie chasing Coco round the garden. It took a while to get them back together again. For a week or more Coco tended to avoid Bettie and the rest of the flock and Bettie was quite aggressive when she did get too close. Is this normal? Fortunately, they now seem to have settled their differences and are back to going around together. I suspect Bettie still holds the crown but they get on so well I can't tell. What I'm pondering on is whether I should I just keep doing what I am doing by evicting her from the coop at every opportunity or whether I let her be broody in peace and just evict her a couple of time a day to make sure she eats. Could I unintentionally be making things worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mabelandflosmum Posted May 7, 2012 Share Posted May 7, 2012 I left my broody hen to get over it and did just what you are doing, shutting her out of the nest box during the day. She was a right stroppy madam for a month and then went back to being her normal self. So I would imagine Coco only has about a week of being broody now. I remember she did the most amazingly huge poos while she was broody! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud Posted May 8, 2012 Author Share Posted May 8, 2012 I left my broody hen to get over it and did just what you are doing, shutting her out of the nest box during the day.She was a right stroppy madam for a month and then went back to being her normal self. So I would imagine Coco only has about a week of being broody now. I remember she did the most amazingly huge poos while she was broody! Thanks. I can cope for another week or so. Looking at the weather forecast this week then staying in the coop all day might not be a bad plan I've not noticed anything unusual with her poos. Maybe my exercise regime has unexpected benefits Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
