Broody,........forever??

[buckabucka]

I have 4 broody hens. The one that has been sitting the longest is the Buff Chantecler. Late in May, we put "Buffy" in a wire bottom cage for a few days. It did not work, so we tried again, but with a fan underneath her. That didn't work either, and then I read that it might take 2 weeks in the cage (we were doing 3-4 days). After 2 weeks in the cage, she would not give up. We even tried ice cubes under her.

Finally, in exasperation, I contacted my friend with chickens. He thinks the cage treatment is mean. He told me to let them sit, collect the eggs every day, and they should be done sitting in 30 - 40 days. So, here I am 40 days later, and she is still sitting. I guess I don't mind particularly that she is not giving off eggs, but still, I worry about what will happen to her. How common is it for a broody to just keeping sitting? Do many hens die this way, or will she likely snap out of it someday?

Not sure there is a solution. I'm hoping tomorrow is the day she gets off the nest!

 

[jeremy]

Why don't you just give her some chicks?

 

[buckabucka]

Well, we've had 2 hatches in the incubator here already, and I let the other Buffy hatch and raise one of those. Now, I finally have the different aged chicks integrated, but it will be a long time before these chicks all get mixed into the flock. I've got all kinds of screens and chicken wire forming a temporary coop and run, separating chicks from the big girls.

Even if I had room for more, I'd need a broody area (the other broody used the area the chicks now occupy). Plus, I'd need to get hatching eggs somewhere, and i'm still trying to figure out where I will grow out these 7 roosters!

Too bad she couldn't have gone broody back when I was hatching! Anyway, that's why!

 

[Judy]

What I have been doing for a year or so now is, take them off the nest when I'm in the coop, which is at least twice a day. If they pancake, I put them outdoors or make them start moving until they start eating. Treats help, of course, and I give them a little BOSS every day, if nothing else. I don't worry so much if they stay broody for several weeks, as they seem to get more to eat this way. Never had much luck with the methods I was willing to try for breaking them.

When I was new to chickens I had one stay broody for four months, and then she only quit because I gave her chicks. Evidently she got up and ate often enough to at least stay alive. Lately, they seem to give up after 4 or 5 weeks, if not sooner, just taking them off the nest.

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

My BO went broody in May and it was as if she were in a trance! We had to remove her from the nest a few times a day, too, just to make sure she would eat and drink.

Lucky for us we had an MPC order arriving mid-June, so she got her wish and is raising the little ones. But she showed NO signs of getting over the broody behavior otherwise, and that was six weeks into it...

 

[buckabucka]

Thanks for the replies! I guess I'll try taking them off the nest more often, because I am worried about how little they eat. DH usually takes them off occasionally, maybe every few days or so, but it would be easy enough to do each morning when I am out there. I'm fishing around for eggs under them anyway!

 

[zzzzac]

mine wouldn't stop until she started looking weak so would plop her into a bucket of water everytime she sat again after 2 days she quit.