Broody all summer!! EVERYONE!

[kikster]

Seriously, this has gotten SO old, it's pointless to even have these girls. I love 'em to death, but they have worked our last nerve this summer. We have had at least one chicken (usually 2 or more @ time) broody ALL SUMMER LONG! It's ridiculous. It all started in like March when our banty Cochin (best layer) went broody. It took us about 3 weeks to break her, and then the day after she was finally out and about again, another one went broody, and so on.... ALL SUMMER!! Their broodiness is like a virus, it just keeps rotating through the flock, and never leaves. It's been quite annoying, especially since we hardly got any eggs last winter w/it being so cold. We were looking forward to these warm months to bring w/them an abundance of eggs, but w/6 chickens, our best day is 3 eggs (w/most days being 1,2, or 0). Now they will be molting soon, and then the cool weather will be kicking in too, and we're so frustrated (last year they all molted together in fall, and then went on strike until spring). So they're basically just pets, being as we're just feeding them (organic, at that!) and housing them w/nothing in return.

Is there something we should do? I've heard that banty's are more likely to go broody, is this true? Even my standard Buff orp is joining in on this broody party when her turn in the rotation comes. For all but 2 of my girls, this was to be their first year in production, we expected MUCH more than what this spring/summer has brought. Very disappointing, and oh so frustrating...

 

[HenPecked_bychildren]

I feel ya. My bantam frizzles went broody together. We let them hatch some eggs, but I guess all the hormones going around caused BOTH of my BO to also go broody and they had only been laying a few months. So they both took turns in the time out cage until we broke them. lol. Everyone but one of the frizzles is back to laying now. She is still in Mama mode leading the chicks around.

 

[kikster]

Yeah, that's pretty much the way it's been all summer. There's someone in the time out cage at all times. I just kept thinking it's gotta end soon, but no such luck. I got one of my frizzled girls in there now, and just yesterday I heard my Orp start making the broody sound while she was walkin around. I may be different if we at least had some eggs that they could hatch, but we have no roo, and I need EGGS! Lol. I do a lot of baking, and I despise having to purchase eggs...

(*on a sidenote, I noticed that you're a fellow homeschooling mama... I homeschool my boy too over here in VA

...)