Broody, blind, and overwhelmed!

[mclennanchicks]

Hi,
My family and I decided to try our hands at having a bakcyard flock. 4 silver laced wyandottes and 4 gold laced wyandottes. A month ago the flock turned on one of the gold's because of a vision issue. So i have her seperated and protected and she is doing well. But now I have two broody hens. Every morning i have to get them out of their nesting boxes and lock them out of their house. But then they run around the coop like raving lunatics, start fights, and just look crazy overall. I am starting to feel overwhelmed. If i wanted to find a new home for 4 of these girls, does anyone have any recommendations? I let them free range when I am home, most weekends, because we have a family of hawks living across the street and also some owls, foxes,fisher cats, etc. i live in the united states- massachusetts to be exact. I just dont know what to do! As i type this, they are intermittently fighting. Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

 

[Pork Pie]

Easy to say with hindsight, but you should have chosen breeds that don't (normally) go broody.

Anyway, breaking the broodiness is not difficult. Simply put a bird in a wire crate, raised off the ground (a couple of bricks would do the job) with food and water for 3-5 days. That usually snaps them out of their broody trance.

 

[mclennanchicks]

This is a picture of the back of our
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Easy to say with hindsight, but you should have chosen breeds that don't (normally) go broody.

Anyway, breaking the broodiness is not difficult. Simply put a bird in a wire crate, raised off the ground (a couple of bricks would do the job) with food and water for 3-5 days. That usually snaps them out of their broody trance.

Thank you. I will try the wire crates, and hopefully that will be one less thing on my list with these girls.

 

[Mrs. K]

Is the shed the coop? If so that is quite a bit of space, which generally is the problem. However, 8 birds is quite a few birds, I think you would be happier with 4. So put the broody hens (Lots of people want them) I would advertise at the feed store. You don't say how old they are, but if the are laying or nearly laying, I would charge $12-15 a piece. That will buy you a bit of feed, make you thrifty, and get rid of your problem, a win/win. Or you can try a local Facebook page, or want ads. Hens are easy to sell, roosters are more challenging.

However, the next project should be some outdoor run. Birds need sunlight, if you have predators, you do need a safe run. It is best if you set it up so that you can let them decide if they want outside or inside.

Inside the run and inside the shed, you need multi- heights and hideouts. Platforms so that birds can get on top, or underneath, something leaned up against the wall so that birds can get out of sight of each other, and multiple feed stations can really help. A submissive bird needs to get out of sight of a dominant bird, that signals that she accepts the pecking order. If she can't, the dominant bird thinks she is challenging the order, and becomes more aggressive. Hideouts can really help.

Good luck,
Mrs K

 

[mclennanchicks]

Hi Mrs.K! Thanks for all the helpful hints!! They have a few roosting posts in the run section. They also have a ramp that leads into their coop from the run so they can come and go as they please. Also, the front of the run section is all screen, so they sun bathe and dust bath themlseves often. But, they do not have places to hide, and other platforms/boxes other than whats in the coop, so I will work on that. Thanks again for all the helpful hints. I may end up posting tje broody girls plus two others. They are only a year and a half old, so i get about 40-50 eggs a week right now!