Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[La Casa de Pollo]

I just finished the last few pages of this thread as well. I have to do it after kids are in bed and I have free time...Last three nights sleep, 3 hrs, 5 hrs, and 4 1/2 hrs. Good thread! The sleep loss was completely worth it. I have a question for the OT----give us your BEST methods to break a broody chicken from her mood. I have a little banty, I end up putting her outside the coop/run all day and she runs around and around the run trying to get back in, but it does seem to take her broody mood away after a few days of this. Then 2-3 weeks or so I will start getting eggs again...then two weeks later, it starts again. I get that she is wired this way and will likely stay this way. We have no desire to keep roos around so we buy our hatching eggs or chicks, no breeding for us, as fun as it sounds. If you have any tricks for getting them back to egg laying sooner let us know! Thanks! Lisa in Utah

 

[Brody's Broodello]

Quote:
#5.....

So True!!!!!

 

[Beekissed]

I've only ever had one that was that persistently broody. One hen doesn't bother me and she could come in handy when I want to hatch some more chicks~IF she is a good mother and can complete a hatch well. Mine didn't. She died.

If just tossing her off the nest every time you see her doesn't do it~ just your average broody I've broken with a dunk or two in a water bucket~"OOOOhhhhh! How cruellllllll!!" I know, I've heard it all.

I just pick her off the nest, carry her to the water bucket by her feet, dunk her a couple of times and toss her out the coop.

No, the water isn't cold enough to change her hormonal drive or the temp of her body, she isn't in the water long enough to make any temp difference...it just makes her agitated and changes her mind about being in the coop right then. Her thoughts probably? "The big person could possibly surprise me and dunk me again...think I'll stay outside a while."

I'm not convinced that isolating them in a cage without nesting materials or putting them in time out has anything to do with cooling their body temps and consequently changing their hormonal urges...I think it has mostly to do with the anxiety or agitation of being separated from the flock. I believe this agitation has a way of switching the bird into survival mode instead of Mommy mode.

Being lifted from a comfy nest, hung upside down and dunked in water is just shocking enough to make a hen mad...you know, madder than a wet hen? Probably where the expression comes from....I've never seen angry hens standing out in the rain getting even more angry~so simply being wet isn't the source, I imagine.

This is, IME, by far the quickest and most effective way to break a casual broody. A career broody is another kettle of fish and this method just won't work on her~neither will isolation from the flock, isolation in a wire bottomed pen, etc. Then you have to decide if she is worth her weight in feed to be a mother for future birds. If she is not an exceptional mother, my advice is to cull.

 

[draye]

Brody's Broodello :

Quote:
#5.....

So True!!!!!

Amen.

I'm somewhere in the middle. Been doing it off and on for about 30 years. I've learned some and some is just guessing. So bring on the wisdom.​

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

Beekissed--great advice! If it is cold/winter, will she freeze when she is wet/should I bring her in for a bit? or is the cold good and not going to cause problems?

 

[J&J's Girls]

Beekissed and all the OT's thanks for the advise and the no non-sense mentality! We have been following this thread the last few days, as many have mentioned, and finally reached the end.lol.

It's great to learn some of the OT's techniques and tips. As we are new to chicken hunbandry (<1yr). I spent time on the ranch as a child tending to all sorts of things, but, never was responsible for the animals' day in, day out care and maintance. We live in an area where agriculture is part of the culture, and that is nice as we seek advise from local farmers. From what they have said to what is written here is almost identical! This varifies, for us, that both parties know there stuff. Between you and them we have learned much more than in any book we've read. We will continue to follow this thread intently.

This may be a simple and silly question, however, do you OT's have specific breeds you like to keep together?

(Not for breeding, we have no roos.) Better put might be: In your experiences what breeds seem to mingle well together?
Thanks for putting up with a newbie!

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
She won't freeze, as she is only in the water for a fraction of a second...this type of wetting doesn't get past her guard feathers(Except you are talking about a bird that doesn't HAVE guard feathers, really, so best to use good judgment on this case and just accept you have a silky).

Of course, if you are currently in below freezing temps, I wouldn't be using this method. Since it's winter time, you are going to suffer a low egg production anyway so let her be broody all she wants. Come spring, use her for hatching a set or not, as you please. If you are not hatching, then would be a good time to get this bird off the nest as a broody and back on the nest as a layer.

Though a silky isn't worth much as a laying hen anyway, from everything I've heard. They just are what they are...I've heard they make good broody moms, so this might be the only reason to keep such a bird.

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

Beekissed--thanks a bunch! Will see what happens in the spring and dunk her then

She is a Chabo actually, when she is laying she lays every single day at 6 a.m, 18-36 days in a row, decent sized eggs for an 18 oz little bantam. Then starts sitting and slowly eggs decline for about 10 days then stop. Love her eggs, they look like pearls...WHEN she decides she is laying lol. We will keep her, she is very unique and may come in handy for hatching someday. But she may have to be taking some snorkeling lessons by spring

 

[Beekissed]

She sounds special!

Been doing for years with good results. Only had one failure but I put that one into the win column because she was a BAD mama and was culled. All the rest of my chickens were smart enough to obey the bucket!

 

[bobbi-j]

I was hoping all summer for a broody. When my BO finally went broody, it was mid-October and too late in the year for me to be able to hatch out and house all 14 of the eggs she was sitting on! (Most of them were fertile, too.

) So, hoping she does her thing in the spring. Unless, of course, I can find me some good heritage birds close to home. Then I'd just let her set on some store eggs for awhile and transfer some chicks under her when her time is up.