Broody Buff - no rooster or eggs

[Lizounette]

So our most dominent (a Buff, after a recent fox attack injured our dominent blue egg laying Americauna) of our hen-only flock has gone broody it seems. We didn't collect the eggs on Friday night, and all through the weekend to today she has prefered to stay in the nestbox. Most recently, when we nudged her off the box to collect the eggs, she didn't even have a brown egg of her own that she was sitting on, she was sitting on Madame Poule's blue egg. I'm just hoping she gets over this soon.

 

[bantyshanty]

My silkie pullet did this too. Went broody just before starting to lay. I broke her broodiness, since she was incubating a small wood block, with the wire cage. It worked in two days, and in a week, she started laying. Two weeks after this, of course, she's went boordy again, lol, on eggs this time. Are you going to break her, or let her hatch the other one's egg? If she broods & hatches it, it will mean perhaps assisted feedings & assisted potty breaks for 3 weeks, then no egg laying for 2-8 weeks after that, until she weans her chick. Is the egg fertile?

 

[pgpoultry]

A broody bird will sit on anything or nothing and does not mind who the eggs were laid by. She will hatch fertile eggs from pretty well any source.

Broodinesss is also difficult to break as it is due to hormonal change., so just tossing her off the nest box often will not work.

Sandie

 

[kudzu vine]

If you want her to stop sitting, take her off nest and put her in a small cage, with water and food of course. Place the cage where she can see the others. On the third day, sometimes 4th, you can release her and she should be broke from sitting. 99% of the time this works for me. But make sure she can see the others so she'll want out and not in a nice cozy place where she'll sit on nothing and be happy.

 

[Lizounette]

So, the eggs she's sitting on cannot be fertile, as we don't have any roosters anywhere near us.

I guess I will have to try the cage thing... we don't have a cage currently, and I've never picked this hen in particular up; it will be a challenge!

 

[gryeyes]

See if you can find some fertile eggs somewhere to slip under her.... Let her fulfill her desire to be a mom!