broody cochin bantam?

[wccs2001]

i have a wood dummy in the nest. remove her egg every day. (no other hens are laying yet). she's been laying for about a month. today she refuses to leave the nest. i went under her and pulled out her one egg. she's still sitting on the dummy. went i get near her she "fluffs and growls" at me.

questions..

is she broody?
if she's broody, will she still lay?
if she won't keep laying, how do i stop the broodiness?
if she will keep laying, what should i do? i'm sure she'll hatch them herself. i have the lamps and brooders for when they hatch. it's august here. another month or two of hot weather.
should i force her to stop the brooding? will it hurt/help?

my standards are due to lay any day, so i don't really need the eggs. babies might be fun.
the roo is a standard cuckoo maran.

thanks!

 

[Frenchchickens123]

Hi, yep your right she's broody! While she's broody she won't lay eggs anymore. If you want to stop a broody I have heard the best way is to put them in a dog crate or similar and after about a week she will give up. Other ways I have heard of are ice packs covered in a towel under the broody or having them in a cage with a wire mesh floor so that it stays cool underneath the hen. I have not tried this yet as I have let my bantam raise chicks and it is so much fun! She's just had her second lot this year have you got any of her eggs stored in the house that are not older than 5 days? If you do these can be put under your broody if you would like chicks and by the sound of it you do good luck whatever you decide, I vote for chicks!

 

[PrestonSloan08]

Oh you are so lucky!! I bought silkies just for broody hens and they still haven't went broody!! But by what you say I think she is broody!! But like I said I have never had one go broody!! But no, she will stop laying if she is broody!! sorry!! But you can buy some eggs from someone (maybe a breed you want) and put them under her after she has went to sleep!! And then she will hatch them for you!! I personally wouldn't try to make her stop being broody!! But I have read some stuf on here on how to stop them!! But they say it doesn't always work!! But if I were you I would put that egg she laid this morning back because a cuckoo marans/cochin sounds like a pretty cool mix!! I like mix breeding chickens because you never know what you will get!!

 

[wccs2001]

I put all my eggs in the fridge as soon as I get them. This last one has been on about an hour and is pretty cold to the touch.

Will she continue to sit on that dummy until I can get eggs for her? Gosh. I don't have nearby that I really want. If I force her off this time and let her keep the next batch of eggs, will she go right back to being brooch? How long before she starts up again?

 

[wccs2001]

I threw some of her favorite scratch out in the pen. Then took her off the nest, loved her a bit, and put her out to eat. She seemed happy enough. I'll go out again soon and check to see if she's back on the nest.

 

[Frenchchickens123]

Hi, I did a bit of research and apparently you can use eggs that have been stored in the fridge. As long as they are less than 10 days old (fertility drops after that) you can use them. So if your pretty sure they are fertile why not give it a go or as you said you can try and source some fertile eggs to put under her if she stills seems intent on sitting on eggs if it will take some time to get some eggs don't worry she will stay broody. My broody has been like that for about 6 weeks as I was hopin she would give up but then I gave in and let her have some eggs

 

[wccs2001]

That's good to hear! Thanks! I have about 8 eggs under 10 days old.

 

[wccs2001]

Slipped two back under her. She seems happy even if I don't get chicks. What will happen if they don't hatch? Will she abandon them and go back to laying?

 

[Theda's Mom]

hahaha! I love cochins. Their middle name is "broody"! In past years, my white cochin usually goes broody about June and stays that way most of the summer. I gave up trying to convince her otherwise. This summer she hasn't gone broody, probably because I disrupted her cycle by moving her 1300 miles in early July! (Hmmm, maybe that's a new way to break them out of their brood? Take 'em on a thousand mile road trip?)

 

[wccs2001]

this weekend both eggs hatched!