Bizarre behavior.

[Paul Martinello]

Hi folks,

I find this both bizarre and disturbing in equal measure. Recently the smallest of my girls, who coincidently happens to be at the bottom of the pecking order, has become broody. She comes out in the morning to feed and water, then jumps straight back into the coop. The last three days I’ve gone to check on her at about 10:30 AM as we’re going through quite a hot spell here. The first time I couldn’t quite believe what I was seeing. One of the other hens had climbed into the nesting box and was sitting on top of her. By the time I’d rearrange things the poor little one was puffing and panting, and obviously quite distressed. This has happened for three days running now. Any ideas on what I can do to stop this?

FYI they are Wyandotte pullets.

Cheers

Paul

 

[SueT]

You can make a partition so she's separated. Or completely remove her to a private set-up.

 

[mestenos]

I've noticed that when weaker hens go broody, they suddenly get picked on a lot more. I think part of it has to do with the broody hen acting more distressed and because of that others are more likely to act domineering. Also, an unfortunate thing about not having a rooster is that "lead hens" go crazy and start to pick up the role of a rooster. So even though I don't like dealing with a rooster, I still keep one around to keep all the hens in order.

 

[chickens really]

Hello...I always separate my Broody Hens so they can set in privacy..Then I introduce her back into the flock when Chicks are 3 to 5 days old...

 

[lazy gardener]

Several ?'s. Where are you? Southern hemisphere? Is she setting on fertile eggs? If she is, then you really should give her her own safe nest box and pen area to keep the other birds from tormenting her. They will choose to lay eggs in her box, they may drive her out of her box. The ensuing bickering may result in broken eggs, with contamination of the rest of the clutch.

If she is not setting on fertile eggs that you want to hatch, then you should break her broodiness. There are lots of threads and articles on BYC about how to do so. Allowing a hen to remain broody when there are no eggs to hatch causes her to loose condition and puts a lot of strain on her body for no purpose. The longer a hen is broody, the deeper she goes into the "broody hormone state", and the harder it is to break her.

If she is setting on fertile eggs, mark all of them, and see to it that no extras get added. If you allow new eggs into her clutch, she will hatch the first few, and abandon the younger eggs, resulting in the death of those chicks. Don't let her set on more eggs than she can keep well covered.

 

[Paul Martinello]

Hi there, thank you very much for the detailed response.

I’m in Australia, and I have no rooster so the eggs are not fertile. I force her off the nest a couple of times a day and collect eggs as soon as they are laid. I also lock the coop when the other two have finished laying for the day so that she stays out.

I guess it will pass?

 

[SueT]

No, that may not be enough. You can make a "broody buster" out of a small wire bottom cage, and keep her confined with air circulation under her tummy for 4 to 5 days....give food and water too of course. This usually will break a broody hen. Getting her to cool off her underside is key, especially in the summer heat.
Good luck.....

 

[skullgrrrl]

It's common, that no matter how many nest boxes you have, one or two are more popular. Your broody is probably sitting in the favoured ones and other hens are climbing in to lay. I often get 3-4 eggs in one box and none in the others.

 

[lazy gardener]

Agreed with Sue. That is not enough. She has to be kept off the nest 24/7 until it passes. Some folks use a dog crate without bedding (even allowing her to lay down in the bedding will continue her broodiness).

Broody hormones are somewhat influenced by temp. of her chest! So, if you can keep her chest out of a nest box, and out of the bedding it will shift her hormones away from brood mode and back to lay mode. Some folks have good luck giving her a cooling bath to cool her hormones!!!

I've had great success by locking broody in a chicken tractor during the day (I usually give her a non laying buddy) and letting her back in the coop to roost at night. I block the nests off at night. In the morning, open nest boxes back up, put broody back in the tractor... rinse and repeat till she no longer heads for nest box. With this approach, I simply check to be sure that she is on a roost at night, and not hunkered down on the coop floor somewhere.

 

[Paul Martinello]

I’m doing my best to make friends with this chicken and you want me to lock her in a cage for five days?

I think these chickens hate me as it is, and if it feels like every move I make causes further animosity.

Cruel to be kind?