hi
I have 8 new hampshire hens who are about 9 months old and have been laying really well in spring time.
We now have a broody chook who is being kept in a separate cage during daylight hours next to the main coop ( should I move the "jail" cage? elsewhere ) to try and break the broody behaviour. As soon as I release her, she will be very pig headed and bolt straight into the coop and keep brooding. Do I need to keep the chook in the broody "jail" 24h a day or let her sleep back in the coop each night?
Problem is that while the flock seems fine and normal and eating & drinking well, but egg production has dropped from 4-6 per day to now 1-2.
If I were on a farm I'd probably just put the broody chook miles away in "Solitary" and wait, but for some reason this one annoying broody chook seems to be holding the others to ransom in terms of laying. Ive had a really careful look around our yard and cant find any other laying locations. As far as I know, there hasnt been any issues with dogs or cats in our yard, nor have the chooks being hassled by other birds. The chook is not trying to hatch eggs, she just sits there doing nothing.
I am at a loss as how best to handle this and would rather do things the right way. One option is move the broody chook out of physical view from the other chooks and see what happens.
Any suggestions welcome.
I have 8 new hampshire hens who are about 9 months old and have been laying really well in spring time.
We now have a broody chook who is being kept in a separate cage during daylight hours next to the main coop ( should I move the "jail" cage? elsewhere ) to try and break the broody behaviour. As soon as I release her, she will be very pig headed and bolt straight into the coop and keep brooding. Do I need to keep the chook in the broody "jail" 24h a day or let her sleep back in the coop each night?
Problem is that while the flock seems fine and normal and eating & drinking well, but egg production has dropped from 4-6 per day to now 1-2.
If I were on a farm I'd probably just put the broody chook miles away in "Solitary" and wait, but for some reason this one annoying broody chook seems to be holding the others to ransom in terms of laying. Ive had a really careful look around our yard and cant find any other laying locations. As far as I know, there hasnt been any issues with dogs or cats in our yard, nor have the chooks being hassled by other birds. The chook is not trying to hatch eggs, she just sits there doing nothing.
I am at a loss as how best to handle this and would rather do things the right way. One option is move the broody chook out of physical view from the other chooks and see what happens.
Any suggestions welcome.
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