Broody fail...

[equinehugger3]

My buff Brahma decided that September was, apparently, the best time to go 'broody'. I get home at about 5 - 8 every night, so she's usually sitting on the nest then. Since I didn't get to watch her all day, I assumed she was fine. Well, this morning I went out to open up the run door, and I saw her. There was this huge, gooey mess beneath her (Egg white - appearently she'd smashed an egg. What a great mama!

), so I freaked out at first. I tried to gently shift her, but she squealed and wouldn't let me. THEN, she started to eat the stuff... By then, I'd realized that she hadn't moved, and was probably starving, so I brought her a couple handfulls of food. She ate a few beakfulls before getting up. When she started to walk, I saw she had a weird limp and that her stomach was literally swaying. That worried me, so I took a look, and saw that she had to whole eggs and half a shell matted to her stomach! I mean, I could NOT pull them off... I don't want her to get sick from sitting in a pile of egg white for the rest of the day, and I'm pushing getting on the bus right now by typing this... UGH. I know I should bathe her or something (She's absolutely filthy!), but I will be DEAD if I miss school for my chickens.

Is there anthing that I should do, besides clean the nest, obviously? I know I probably sound like an idiot, but having my hens brood eggs/chicks was never my intention, so I don't know anything on the subject!

Oh, BTW - I have not had a rooster for months, now, and I've never kept a full-grown one, so there's no chance of these eggs being fertile.

 

[Judy]

Just clean it all up this afternoon. Don't be afraid to pick her up and handle her. You may want long sleeves and/or gloves. I just gently hold the head away from my other hand while I get one hand positioned near the back of her wings, then slide the other hand down. They don't like it but they accept it once they are used to it. I wouldn't feed her on the nest, I would take her off the nest, at least twice a day -- I do this even to broodies who I hope will hatch chicks.

 

[Uzuri]

She'll probably even do her own cleaning up before you get there, at least partially.

Unless she really is a bit of a dim bulb... you never know XD

Take the eggs out from under her when you get home as well; if she can't hatch them, there's no sense in them rotting there. She's so impressively clumsy at this point that you might want to try and break her of it while you're at it!