Breaking Broody - Am I Doing It Right?

[NatalieP]

Hello! I have my very first broody... she's a 9.5 month old Ameracauna. I'm choosing to go with the broody cage to stop her broodiness. Simple removal worked yesterday but not today. I placed her in a slightly elevated (bricks underneath) small crate in the run (under the elevated coop) with food and water. She is MAD and is constantly pacing and trying to escape.. Is that reaction expected? Do I need to remove her from the run? When will she settled down?

Edited to add: Do I remove her from the cage to roost at night in the coop?

 

[nuthatched]

That's what they usually do, they'll be mad but they'll get over it.

 

[rosemarythyme]

She is MAD and is constantly pacing and trying to escape.. Is that reaction expected? Do I need to remove her from the run? When will she settled down?

Edited to add: Do I remove her from the cage to roost at night in the coop?

Yes her pacing and being cranky is normal - broodies are cranky, period.

Leave her in the run/in sight of the others, so there's no fuss about reintegrating her. It'll be as simple as opening the cage door once she's broken, and letting her rejoin the others.

Ideally, you want to leave her in the cage 24/7. IF the isolation cage is not safe for overnight stay (i.e. sits outside the run) then put her on the roost at night, and retrieve her from the nest box the next morning and put her back in the cage. It may take a little longer this way but better than letting a predator get to her.

 

[aart]

and retrieve her from the nest box the next morning

Or cover the nests at night.

 

[David61]

remember, the object is to lower body temperature long enough for hormone levels to drop back to normal. keeping her bottom off anything that can trap heat is the goal. I have 3'x6' isolation pen under the poop board. Dirt floor, pine shaving bedding, food and water. plenty of room for one bird to recover from what ever while still being with the flock. Now the broody cooler is 16"x20" and 3 feet off the floor so ventilation is max. She can roost on a 2x2 is stick in at night when i close up the armored coop/run. other than she can turn circles on the 1/2 hwc wire. she is in the cooler. https://hannahloviisawriter.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/6xa-zf-1.gif?w=720

 

[NatalieP]

@David61 that gif got to me LOL. And thank you everyone for your responses!

But now I have more questions.. she laid an egg yesterday in the cage... I felt terrible and I'm confused now.

For the past few weeks I've been finding her feathers in the nest box. I knew that they were hers because of the color but didnt know if her feather eating flockmates were doing to her or if she was doing it herself. I didnt quite connect the dots since I didnt think they go broody in the winter. I checked yesterday and she definitely has removed the feathers down the middle of her belly area.

I let her roost last night since she laid that egg late. Today I've removed her 3 times from the nest box. Because of yesterday, I'm a little cautious to do so, but I'm giving her more than enough time to lay an egg if that's all it is. When I remove her from the nest box, she does continue to lay down on the ground (like a broody would) but then snaps out of it after a couple seconds. She may graze / peck around for some time before running back or she tries to run back to the nest immediately. So we definitely have a broody, right? Is she just a bad / forgetful broody?

She hasn't laid an egg today yet. She either lays daily or skips a day so I'm hesitant to do the cage again.. thoughts?

Additionally, I found some brown feathers in the other nest box for the first time today... I know this can be contagious so anyway to stop the other one from going down the same path at this point early on?

 

[aart]

She hasn't laid an egg today yet. She either lays daily or skips a day so I'm hesitant to do the cage again.. thoughts?

If she's truly acting broody.....just leave her in the crate, not a problem if she lays in there.
She may be at the beginning of being broody, when they can still squeeze out a few eggs.

 

[David61]

tis the season to be moltee so feathers are feathers. Two or three days in the "cooler" will cure this.
Now i have seen one of my girls hide out in the nest box because of a bullying . remember, broody comes from hormones driven by heat.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

She has to stay in the cage for three days. Taking her out to nest is counter productive and will only prolong the process. Buck up and cage her for three days. They don't like it, you don't like doing it so just get it over with. She will settle down and start acting normal into the second day. Don't be fooled! Wait three days and let her out morning of fourth day.

 

[NatalieP]

tis the season to be moltee so feathers are feathers. Two or three days in the "cooler" will cure this.
Now i have seen one of my girls hide out in the nest box because of a bullying . remember, broody comes from hormones driven by heat.

My ladies are 9.5 months so they aren't molting. I could be wrong, but I heard they don't molt in their first year?

She has to stay in the cage for three days. Taking her out to nest is counter productive and will only prolong the process. Buck up and cage her for three days. They don't like it, you don't like doing it so just get it over with. She will settle down and start acting normal into the second day. Don't be fooled! Wait three days and let her out morning of fourth day.

Definitely will scrounge up all the tough love I have. I just want to be certain on what's going on since I dont want to unnecessarily stress her out.

So it's ok to do the broody cage this early and have her lay eggs in there? She's currently free ranging with her flockmates after pushing out an egg. Granted, we removed her from the nest box since she was laying on top of that egg... by the way, check out that egg! Interestingly it's shorter than normal (I know, so new to this lol). Are the little "pimples" excess calcium deposits?