again, questions about my broody cochin

[jrabbit]

So, we have a cochin, a silkie-mixture, a barred rock, a black sex link, and a red somethin' - all hens, no rooster. The first two lay bantam eggs, but the hens are super sweet, so we forgive them for their tiny eggs. The last one hasn't started laying yet, but her sibling at a friend's house just started a week ago. Other than the young one, I can identify who lays what egg by size. We've had them since Feb/March.

Anyway, the cochin (Esther) has been off & on broody this summer. But now, for 2 weeks, she has been on her nest. Obviously, she's not hatching anything! We do see her out of the roost occasionally, eating, but she goes straight back. There is NOTHING in the nest. The other hens will scoot her out of the way to lay their eggs, and we check for eggs 2-4 times a day.

Another problem, though, is that the hens appear to be on strike. We're only getting 1-2 eggs a day instead of 3-4, like we had been getting. My black sex link hasn't laid in 10 days (she used to be daily). We're getting one large and one bantam, but I don't know for sure who is laying the bantam egg, but I *think* it's not Esther.

We treated for mites last Friday with sulfur powder, but none of the hens showed signs of mites - they were just in the coop. The mites immediately disappeared.

The hens have plenty of good feed, oyster, water, access to lots of dirt to roll in, and food scraps. They seem very happy, and 3 of them squat for me when I'm outside. Esther sometimes squats, too.

I just watched the barred rock (Beatrix) lay an egg - and then watched as Esther took it under her beak and rolled it underneath her! It was cute and sad at the same time. Then, of course, I moved her out of the way and stole the egg.

I would go buy eggs for her to hatch, if I thought it would help her - BUT I do not wish to raise chicks again. (I know, I'm odd - but we raised the red from a few days old + 6 others, and I don't really want to do that again)

Our chickens are our pets - we do not raise them for anything but eggs. We're maxed out at 5, and I don't want to raise chicks again, only to give them away. (we have kids)

Is Esther going to eventually stop sitting on the nest? Is the Houston-heat likely the reason we're not getting eggs?

thanks for any help!
--janis

 

[onedozenphyllises]

Quote:
I'm going to say probably, yes to this.

As for the broodiness, we have a little game cross that sits on air (or anything else she can find). I did let her hatch out a few eggs once, but she kept up the broodiness after that. I just continued taking the eggs away, and eventually she gave up. It did take awhile, though.

 

[jrabbit]

It feels cruel to take the eggs away from her, but it's not like she knows what she's doing. I assume it's just an instinctive urge that is making her sit there ... not a maternal drive. It's not the same thing as being pregnant.

I looked at last week's eggs, and I think our young red must be laying eggs - they are almost identical to Beatrix's x-large eggs.

--janis

 

[BettyR]

Hi jrabbit-

I'm not far from you...we live just a little ways outside of Hull...it's in Liberty County...about a 1-1/2 hour drive East of Houston. It is super hot here too. Out of about 28 hens I'm getting 9 to 12 eggs a day and they are not as large as they usually are. It's just so hot it's stressing the hens out too much for them to lay very much.

I don't pen my chickens up....they are free to roam at will. We live on the Eastern edge of the Big Thicket so there is more than enough bushes and trees for them to find shade and I have several large feed pans that I fill with water every day and the hens will get in the pans of water and sit to cool off...so yes the heat will make the hens not lay.

But it has also been my experience that broodies don't lay much if at all...I have 3 hens who have been on the nest almost all summer...the other hens will get in the nests with them and lay...I take the eggs away every day and yet they just sit there. Two of the three are like pit bulls...I have to cover their heads with my feed scoop to get the eggs out from under them otherwise they would peck the crap out of me....and they draw blood!

Just do what you can to keep them as cool as possible and be patient...your patience will be rewarded.

 

[jrabbit]

Betty, we think they are as cool as possible. They spend most of the day in the dirt underneath our house or our flower beds. The yard is plenty shady, as is their run on days they have to stay locked up. They have large trays of water always, and the sip out of our tadpole pond.

I'm fairly sure Esther isn't laying - she WAS my most prolific hen til this silliness began.

thanks
--janis