6 month old broody, flock newbie, have questions

[aart]

I use small wire dog crates , with 1x2 wire added to bottom, to break broodies....and a plethora of other chicken things.
Have found them to be very handy, well worth the investment of ~$20 at flea market/garage sale.

Put crate right in coop on a couple 4x4's, let them out just a bit before roost time to stretch, dust bathe, scratch and other chicken things like commune with their flock mates. After 2-3-4 days they will head to roost instead of back to nest and viola, they're broke!

Pic taken before adding feed/water.

 

[Little Coop on Salt Creek]

So in this scenario @aart do they sleep in or out if the crate?

I broke down and bought 2 different crates today. I assembled the bigger if the 2 (figured would be good size for standard breeds or 2 Silkies if the need arise) to put our Snowball into. Oh man... is she extremely displeased with me
She is kinda doing this non-stop cackling sound and trying to climb up the crate sides. I tried to tell her it was @azygous & @oldhenlikesdogs fault BUT I don’t think she’s buying it!

 

[azygous]

She certainly looks peed-off. What a look! If you get yourself out of her sight, you will see she will settle down. The act is mostly for your benefit. Don't ever let anyone try to convince you that chickens don't know how to manipulate their humans. Cats have nothing on chickens in this regard.

The broody must spend the nights in the cage. Even if she would stay on a roosting perch and not try to get into a nest, the perch reflects her body heat back to her and will not allow the broody hormones to decrease as a result.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

They are always irritated and will pace. In their heads their babies(eggs), need them. She will be okay and will forget all about it after she's broke, at least until the next time.

 

[aart]

So in this scenario @aart do they sleep in or out if the crate?

I broke down and bought 2 different crates today. I assembled the bigger if the 2 (figured would be good size for standard breeds or 2 Silkies if the need arise) to put our Snowball into. Oh man... is she extremely displeased with me
She is kinda doing this non-stop cackling sound and trying to climb up the crate sides. I tried to tell her it was @azygous & @oldhenlikesdogs fault BUT I don’t think she’s buying it!

View attachment 1170294 View attachment 1170295 View attachment 1170296

Do those fold up for storage?
They look nice, small mesh on bottom already there?

Yeah, they don't like it, but be strong-don't give in!
Yes, they should spend the night....but I've found that after a couple days they head to the roost instead of nest after daily constitutional, they are done brooding.

 

[lczobrist]

Hi everyone,

We have a 6 month old White Silkie who appears to be broody. I will first off say, we LOVE having our girls. We purposely got silkies and other frequently broody breeds so we could have them do the raising job for us. It also seems to us that letting them sit on eggs is more natural than trying to break them of it. I didn't plan on one of our girls going so quickly though.

Today is day number 2 that our sweet little hasn't wanted to leave the nest. Yesterday she laid her egg, but didn't want to leave it. I would take her off the nest and she'd go find another one with a freshly laid egg to sit on and last night, she wanted to sit in an empty box and sleep. I took her out and put her in her sleeping spot, but I don't know if she stayed there. So my questions are a few:

1. Is 6 months old too young to put her through sitting on an egg?

2. Is 1 fertile egg going to be enough for her to sit on and raise? (we have a current flock including our broody girl of 19 standard breeds and 3 bantams). We figured if she was successful at hatching, she could raise it and we would determine later to either keep or sell it.

3. Is this time of year bad to let her sit? We have an insulated coop and enclosed with fencing, chicken wire and shade cloth run. The run is also covered.. they do get supervised free range time most days of the week.

4. Will she do the integrating of the new chick into the existing flock for us?

Thank you to all who help us!

 

[lczobrist]

I am very familiar with broody hens and agree with the dog crate method. I place mine on my patio where I can watch her and protect her from grabby hands of other vermin. Put her food and water and no bedding. Mine I leave in for 48 hours and then presto, no more broodiness. I have a blue laced wyandotte and buff orpington that are broody... Good luck

 

[Little Coop on Salt Creek]

One crazy newbie thought... if I have 2 silkies go broody together, could I put them both in the bigger crate? I thought this morning I might have 2, one of our other Silks (Maple) seemed to be going that direction, but she is still laying for me almost everyday AND since she saw what solitary did for her sister.. she beat it out of the box, not to return!

Also, will my current broody, Snowball, lay an egg in the broody buster crate if she needs to? I think she was trying to sucker me just now. I went in to let her out while I was getting things cleaned up for the night.. as soon as she was free, up to the nest boxes she went. I put her down, seconds later... up she went. We played that game for a few minutes before I decided she wasn't interested in any of her normal chickie behaviors and back to the crate she went.

 

[Little Coop on Salt Creek]

So, I hope she is OK in the morning. At bedtime/lights out/head count time she was trying to fly to the top of her little crate to escape I guess! Oh man, is it possible these feathered little creatures have me wrapped around their little feathered feet? I feel so bad for her... maybe after the 'n'th time of breaking her broodiness I won't feel so bad, but for tonight.. I feel bad!

 

[azygous]

You've brought up some good points. Sometimes you can house two broodies together in the cage, but sometimes it won't work if they're rivals. My broody cage is quite large, but it wasn't large enough for a Sussex and a Wyandotte who were mortal enemies and went broody at the exact same time.

I ended up cutting a scrap from an old plastic tarp and wiring it into the middle of the cage to form a divider. That worked as long as neither caught a glimpse of the other. But it wasn't easy to liberate the one in the rear without the one in front seeing she was there. Feathers flew, and I was right in the middle of it. Broodies can get pretty worked up, let me tell you.

The possibility of the broody laying an egg in the cage does sometimes happen. Ideally, you are starting the broody breaking process after she's laid her final egg. But sometimes you won't know. In that case, you will find an egg in the cage.

Twice, I've watched a broody developing and when I made the decision to pull them off the nest to start their broody breaking, they decided to lay their final egg just as I was lifting them out of the nest. One of these times the egg went SPLAT on the ground. Oh well.