Broody Chicken Question that I can't find the answer to...

[SAKim]

Thanks everyone for the comments. I know y'all are right. I don't want to be cruel to my babies and let them go on endlessly with no hope of hatching their little poplight, especially if it is going to make them weak and sick.

When I got my girls, I knew they were going to go broody but I was dumb and thought the only consequence was no eggs. I am learning so much everyday. I want to be a good chicken momma and I am learning that chickens are 10 times harder to care for properly than dogs and cats.

This morning I took their poplight away and opened the doors on the nesting area so they will get air circulating around.
I am working my way to be brave enough to put them in a hanging wire cage... maybe in a few days.
I am going to start weighing them everyday ... today, they still feel like little chubbies.

In the mean time, I was wondering if it is the time away from the nest in a different environment that breaks the boodiness? If so, I wonder if just bringing them inside for a few days would do the trick. They are used to wearing diapers and coming inside but only for a few hours at a time and then they want back outside to do what chickens like to do best.

Again, thanks for all the advise. I don't know what I would do w/o the BYC forums...
If anyone has any more ideas or ANYTHING for me to try, please let me know.

 

[Chicken.Lytle]

Quote:
Not in my experience .

 

[foxinachickenhouse]

We have two silkies and they rotate broody about every 6 weeks. I have grown weary of the cage. I've put a wire dog cage on blocks just a few inches above the ground and it does work especially if your broody is very determined. But the cage is a pain, so lately, I just keep insisting they come out. I pull them out and put them down in the run over and over. At night I put them on the roost if they are in the nest boxes. I notice that distracting them with treats helps. Putting them to range in a different area or tractor pen away from nest boxes helps re-focus their little minds. You may not like this one, but I've also had good luck spritzing their breast with water or giving them a little foot and belly dunk in a bucket and then putting them down for treats. Cools their bellies and gets them out of the zombie trance. Now they seem to cycle in broody for 2 weeks, recover for 2 weeks, laying for 2 weeks. The broody spells I've noticed have gotten much less severe if I am determined to put them out. This last spell I was so busy, and not around much, so they just had to do their thing and they both came out of it pretty quickly on their own, with the help of scrambled eggs and yogurt. If I didn't have the standard hens that needed access to the coop to lay their own eggs, I would probably just lock the broody silkies out of the coop during the day.

 

[Ridgerunner]

The things that seem to work best. Cool off her underside. This is why the broody cage is so good. With the wire bottom and nothing to build a nest out of to keep her bottom warm, she cools off.

Bright light. Broodies want to hatch their eggs in a nice safe place. This usually means dark or in the shadows. The brighter it is the less safe it seems. This does not mean that you have to put her under bright lights, just try to avoid dark comfortable spots.

Break her routine. This occasionally works by itself with hens that are not real sure they want to go broody, but if one is dedicated, it is not enough be herself. If she can't get back to her nest, then she cannot follow her normal routine.

I don't know if putting diapers on them and keeping them in the house would work. It would certainly put me off, but I don't know about them.