Chicken bald back

[ChickenPoopGarden]

Ok, so Marshmallow went full-on broody and after googling extensively I got everything together to make a broody cage in the run.

So that's where she is now - sitting in a large dog crate, with food and water, a couple of branches incase she wants to roost and a tiny but of shelter from one of those garden waste bags and the plastic floor of the crate as a roof.

I am very insecure about this! I can't let her back in the coop because she blocks the only nestbox they use and I dont want any more smashed eggs. But it is SO windy! and although the WIR is in a sheltered spot, I'm pretty sure she'll get blustered a bit.

What do I do? The wind isn't as bad as it has been, but I don't want to kill the poor thing!

[mullethunter]

I would probably wrap plastic or something around the windward sides to give her some protection against the worst of the wind and any sideways rain, but apart from that it sounds like you're doing what I would do.

[ChickenPoopGarden]

Unfortunately I don't have any plastic! And I just read on the Chicken Chick that you are supposed to put the cage out of sight of the flock. Would she be better off inside the shed in her cage? And how do I reintroduce her if she's away from the flock for three days? Surely they'll all go mad and decide she's a new bird?

[mullethunter]

I never put mine out of sight of the others and it's always worked.

[ChickenPoopGarden]

ok, well, I caved and set her up in the shed. It wasn't too bad out there tonight, although the wind is really starting to get up, but my husband says there's really bad weather coming tomorrow and I just couldn't hack leaving her out in that. Hopefully it'll work all the same to break the broodiness and then I just have to worry about re-introducing her...

I think if it wasn't such bad weather I might have stuck with it in the run...

[LittleLau]

In the short time (9 months) I've had my girls, they have have probably been broody as much as not. I always put them in the shed or garage as I haven't the heart to leave them outside. One has just spent two days in a dog crate in the garage. I popped her back in the eglu at night, and had no problems with them getting along in the morning.

[ChickenPoopGarden]

Ok, that's encouraging to hear. I'm going to try her back on Friday and if she's still sitting, I'll leave her in over the weekend.

Broodies... Ugh!

[The Dogmother]

I never put mine out of sight of the others and it's always worked.

 

Exactly, leave the crate in the run so that it's easier to introduce her back to the flock afterwards.

[ChickenPoopGarden]

Let them all free range together this morning and thought "Yes! She's not broody any more!" But came back out an hour later to find her cuddled up in the nestbox! Unacceptable! Back to solitary she goes and no early release this time! I will try her again on Monday...

Although, is there a sign that lets you know when they are back to normal?

[DaisyAndBobby]

We usually find that they lay an egg in the broody cage and this is a pretty good sign they are over it. If they are not laying at the moment then I would just say not to let them out too early and ensure that they are broken of the broodiness. One thing that has almost caught us out a couple if times is doing three days and nights in the broody cage, letting them out and then later that day the hen was on the nest. We were just preparing the broody cage for another night when they popped out of the coop, with an egg in the nest box. They do tend to lay differently (very flat when broody, as apposed to more upright when just laying) but it has made us think a couple of times.

 

I find with ours that when still broody they tend to sit down a lot in the cage, and fluff up, trying to maintain the broodyness but when they are broken of if tend to get a lot more agitated than usual and really want out.

 

You will find over time you will start to tell from their behaviour when they are thinking about going broody and when they are out of it. Ours go really distant before they even start sitting. Standing and staring into thin air and not being as much a part of the flock as usual. Then the sitting starts, and then it is into the cage they go

 

Hope that helps.

[The Dogmother]

Just leave her in there 3 days, 24/7 and let her out in the morning, not the evening.

[ChickenPoopGarden]

Very helpful, thank you. She was still a flat chicken-pancake, so I guess that was a sign she wasn't repentant! Hopefully there'll be a change on Monday! In the meantime, I was hoping that Splash would notice that the nestbox is empty and start laying her eggs there again but she is STILL just dumping them from the roost. I now have to put a cardboard box full of shavings under her butt when I lock them in at night. So far it has caught the egg, but I'd rather she just laid it in the nest!!!

[The Dogmother]

You can try to encourage her to use the nest by popping a pot egg (ceramic fake egg ) in there, but 'egg incontinence' at night is often an indication of an egg tackle issue. You may just have to manage it as you are doing.

[sjp]

you might find that once it starts getting light earlier she might start to lay in the right place most of the time I've got a Light Sussex that was laying a lot of her eggs under the roosting bars or in the run and only a few in the nest box she started laying late November last year most of the eggs she laid out of the nest area were poor quality ,the reasonable ones got laid in the nest area I'm hoping that when she starts laying again that her egg quality improves and she starts to lay all her eggs in the nest area but I think she got 'egg tackle problems' and to be honest if I hadn't brought her in as a day old but hatched her from my own mob she'd go

[ChickenPoopGarden]

I hope she start's laying in the box! All her eggs have been perfect so far, real Waitrose ones. She's a lovely girl, though. i think i can put up with her foibles, if I have to.