Cochin Gone Broody on Unfertile Eggs

[lisamayc]

My cohcin has gone broody on unferilized eggs. What will happen if I don't do anything to change her habbit. I've been told that if one hen goes broody it will encourage the others to go broody.

I really don't want to stick her in a solitary cage - seems kind of cold hearted I.M.O.

 

[squeakyballs]

Take away the eggs or they'll go bad and they could EXPLODE. You can do it at night with a dim light if you don't want to disturb her too much, plus it lessens your chance of being pecked.

Replace the eggs with fertile eggs, plastic easter eggs weighted with sand, or golf balls.

She shouldn't care if she's in solitary confinement, broody hens seem to have a one track mind. You could always just fence off the next box or area she is in, so she can still see the others but they won't be able to add eggs to her nest.

 

[shawnm2639]

Thanks for the answer I was looking for...my 3 Old English are sitting and keep changing/sharing nesting boxes. I am going to take the last 4 eggs out of one of their boxes and the rest when they move around. They were setting on my other hens eggs and hatched 8 or 10 chicks. I didn't know what I was going to do because the others kept laying eggs in the nests and leaving.

My husband says they have till Wed. to get the job done and he is clearing out boxes.

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

Quote:
you do not have to wait till night to remove those eggs and it will take a month before the might explode. if you do not wish you hen to be broody you need to break her, 1. remove her from the nest, 2. keep her away from the nest, 3. you can place her in a wire cage, the average time in the cage will be for every day shes broody it at to to break, 3 days broody=6 days to break, you can keep the cage in the coop. the only reason you need to place fake eggs in is if you wish to keep her broody, so you can place chicks under her in 21 or so days

the choice is yours

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

Quote:
its the sharing that is causing your problem, few hens can share, this is one reason you need to remove a broody so she sits on her eggs and not eggs of all ages

 

[squeakyballs]

Quote:
you do not have to wait till night to remove those eggs and it will take a month before the might explode. if you do not wish you hen to be broody you need to break her, 1. remove her from the nest, 2. keep her away from the nest, 3. you can place her in a wire cage, the average time in the cage will be for every day shes broody it at to to break, 3 days broody=6 days to break, you can keep the cage in the coop. the only reason you need to place fake eggs in is if you wish to keep her broody, so you can place chicks under her in 21 or so days

the choice is yours

SHHHH What are you doing, I want people to think that eggs can EXPLODE. Shrapnel and all.

 

[kikster]

Quote:
I just learned this the hard way this year. Our Cochin went broody, and at first we did nothing. After a couple weeks, we became fearful for her health, as she began to eat less and less. We began tossing her out of the nest to no avail, because she'd just run right back in. We dunked her in water (her bottom) countless times. Still nothing. The only thing that worked finally was separating her from the nest. We don't have a cage, but a separate run area that is inside of the pen that we usually use for new/quarantined birds. They are visible to the rest of the flock but just can't get at them. There is also a little house attached to this area for them to lay in, but we closed this off, so she wouldn't get too comfy. She'd stay in there all day, and then we'd put her back in the house w/the others at night. A couple days of pacing back and forth trying to break out of "quarantine" and she was back to her old self. She even started laying again within the week.

only problem....one of our frizzles went broody the next day. So we worked a little swifter w/her, but she still didn't break for a bout a week...2 days later two more ladies decided to go broody, and so on. I never knew that broodiness was contagious, lol. But I can tell you from experience now that it surely is! So the sooner you break her, the better (especially if eggs are infertile, as mine are.) It's not healthy for them. I still have 2 broody hens, there's only one left that hasn't been broody yet, and we figure it's only a matter of time