am i abusing my broody chicken??

[elainag]

well, hello everyone!! i have a situation that i need help with...

here it goes...

i have dozens of eggs from different breeds and only one very broody bantam cochin, she is the only one that is sitting on eggs right now, and the funny thing is that she didnt lay one single egg!!!
i put her in a corral with other chickens that were laying when i bought her. and within one week she became broody!!
the person i got her from told me she had just hatch a clutch of eggs 2 weeks before i bought her! so i didnt expect her to go broody, but as crazy as it sounds, as soon as i got her she used to get very upset when other chickens would go into the nest, until she got broody...
well, i took advantage of that, and put some eggs from other chickens under her, so they hatched and i took the chicks away, then unfortunately a snake killed one of my mothers chickens that was broody and she left the eggs half way "cooked" so i put them under her and she hatch them again i took them away, and i put more eggs under her... she just hatched 2 chicks and still waiting on 3 more...

she has free access to water and food on a daily basis, i dont have her confined into no cage, jail or nothing.. she gets freely in and out when ever she wants,

so my question is this, how many times can i have her hatch eggs for me?

am i abusing her?? lol

my mom said that she can die, but i dont see her sick, sad or even skinny from not eating, she comes out, eats and drinks very normally...
she is very sweet and i dont want to over use her, but my other chickens wont go broody...

has someone done this before? i need advice and your experience comments please!

thanks!!!

 

[gamebirdsonly]

I would say no I have had some broodies be broody for 3 or more months and I just keep taking the eggs

 

[Cackling Hen]

So your girl has hatch 3 clutches ? Thats 63 days of sitting I think its kind cruel myself I dont wanna sound rude but you asked Is very hard on your girl to sit there day after day I think you should let her go back to being a chicken for awhile Just my though

 

[aubreynoramarie]

If she were in the wild shed sit on her eggs as long as she wanted, so I'd just let her go until she wants to stop. If you take eggs away she's just gonna find more

 

[nobodyherebutuschickens]

The question is: Will she want to go back to being a normal chicken? Motherhood is hard on chickens. Maybe it's time to start discouraging her from sitting on that nest.

 

[NottinghamChicks]

Quote:
I agree. some birds are just real broody and it is harder to break them than let them go. I have a Silkie mix that wont stop. She kicks her chicks to the curb, lays 10 eggs, and back to broody. It's what she does. It's not cruel, it's that particular birds nature. It's what they do.

 

[Lollipop]

Nature takes care of it`s own. She`ll be fine. I have had hens set for 3 months on empty nests and no problems health wise. You are doing just fine. Use whatcha got...........Pop

 

[Cackling Hen]

Glad to hear its ok next time Im going to let my girls go fot it

 

[Nostalchic]

No, if she were in the wild (a silkie in the wild, that's an odd concept), she would HATCH and then RAISE a brood of chicks, thus be up and moving and eating and drinking and showing them how to do it. Why don't you let her raise some of these babies and finish out the process? That's what her hormones are directing her to do and I think she may very well suffer some adverse health consequences from sitting for such extended periods of time. She sounds like a gem, shouldn't exploit her good nature too much! (Now if she "kicks the chicks to the curb", that's a different matter altogether. But I'd bet she's a great mom, and they do it a lot better than we do!)

 

[NottinghamChicks]

Hahaha, just noticed that you are short. 4ft 10.5in here. I think I should legally be in the back seat of the car in my state