Luvachicken Posted July 27, 2020 Share Posted July 27, 2020 Molly is broody for the first time in 3 years and she is going absolutely bonkers in the dog crate that I usually use. I only put her in it last night and we covered her up as it was bedtime anyway. This morning she was relatively calm and sitting down but as the day has wore on, she is getting very agitated that she can't get out. She is jumping up and down trying to force her body out of the gaps. I'm worried she is going to hurt herself. I have let her out for now and have shut the cube door. Tonight I will pop her back in the broody cage. I have lost a chicken once before to the stress of being shut in the cage and constantly trying to get out. I'm wondering if a cage with smaller gaps in would be better as she wouldn't be able to get any of her body out then. (like the little cat carriers) Any ideas how I can make it less stressful for her ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted July 27, 2020 Share Posted July 27, 2020 This is one of the reasons why I can’t use this as Merel does the same. Are you keeping her in the run with the rest? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvachicken Posted July 27, 2020 Author Share Posted July 27, 2020 Yes, she is in the run with Gemma. The broody cage is in the run too. At the moment she is busy running up and down the ladder trying to get in and making some awful noise like a chicken with hiccups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted July 27, 2020 Share Posted July 27, 2020 Jep, that’s Merel. Endless pacing and whining. Although she will stop at one point and just brood on a perch. I now split the run in two and stick Merel in the part with no access to the coop. This works for her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvachicken Posted July 27, 2020 Author Share Posted July 27, 2020 Hubby suggested Molly might want to lay an egg so I let her in the cube. I only let her in for an hour and she didn't lay an egg. She was just trying to trick me I've popped her back in the cage for the night and covered her up again. The silly thing is obviously hungry as I could hear her tuck into the pot of food straight away. Fingers crossed she might have got used to the cage by the morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted July 28, 2020 Share Posted July 28, 2020 I use a plastic-coated mesh pet carrier - the smaller one on the edge of this video - they come in various sizes, and it works just fine, but then none of mine panic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvachicken Posted July 29, 2020 Author Share Posted July 29, 2020 Thanks Dogmother - that was the kind of thing I was looking at. Not sure I need it now though as she was as good as gold in the cage yesterday. Today she has been set free. I have shut the door on the cube just to make sure there is nothing sneaky going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
