Dang chickens...another broody?

[freemotion]

The hen's body temp goes up when she is broody. You need to cool her off. I hold the hen (squawking and complaining loudly....me, not the hen) in a bucket of cold water, covering at least her bottom half, for a few minutes. Then let her go, but do not give her access to her nest. If she is really determined, you can repeat this several times a day. Once a day for 3-4 days usually does it.

The other thing you can do is to hang a wire-bottomed cage and put her in it, so she cannot keep her underside warm, until she is no longer broody.

 

[Dace]

Dang, I don't know if I could do that! I like the idea of locking her out of the coop, but I can't get her out of the nesting box....we have a really small coop and I already tried this morning to shoo her out, she wasn't gonna budge....she just purred as I pet her.

Silly girl.

 

[freemotion]

It is summer in Southern CA....it will be refreshing! For both of you! You will be doing her a favor....I had a broody go six weeks once and was half dead before I finally broke her up. I take care of business quickly now. They don't do well at all, eating less, pooping less, drinking less, vulnerable to parasites and such....break her up quickly for her own sake. Plus, she will start laying eggs again!

 

[Dace]

Well shoot, after reading that I hustled
outside and pulled her out of te nesting box. Surprisingly she wasn't mad! Went straight for the foodwhile I shut to coop door!

 

[Aidenbaby]

Yeah, Xanthe always growls at me too. She's harmless though. She's not only the bottom of the pecking order but she's never once pecked me, even by accident. The only one that does peck at me is my Delaware and she's usually trying to get the bugs (freckles and moles) off me. She seems like she's back to normal for now but I'm going to keep her out for a couple of days until she lays. She can roost under the coop window cover. They liked roosting there last fall when it was still hot.

 

[pdsavage]

I love broodies,they save me alot of work and do a better job hatching then I do.
Right now I have one broody sitting on some very special project eggs.

 

[miss_thenorth]

My daughter and I were out int he barn today, and we took a peek at the two scovies nest.

Out of 18ish eggs, there is only ONE left!!!!!!!

Am i destined to NEVER have baby scovies running around?????????

 

[lorihadams]

I've got a light brahma that just went broody today.....no fertile chicken eggs here either so I removed them and put a dozen or so indian runner eggs under her. We'll see what happens....