Broody hen, should I or shouldn't I?

Bahahahaaa! That's great! I think I'm going to build a 'beware' sign post for next to the broody box
 
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I didn't get a single egg today from any of my other girls. I just realized that. Hmmmm... I wonder if grumpy pants is hoarding them.
 
My son walked in while I was trying to sooth her to check underneath her. He just walked right up and picked her up (she just let him and calmly waited for him to put her down... talk about a mood swing! Eesh!
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) and lo and behold!! That little thief/hoarder was sitting on a mountain of eggs! LOL we took 12 of them and left 6 for her to sit on if she wants. She was walking around eating and drinking and puffing herself up so I'm waiting to see if she goes back or not. I made a little nest box with hay for her that's a little out of the way. We sat her in it but she went outside to eat. If she insists on being stubborn I guess I will just let her be
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I put a dog crate around Agatha's nest because that's HER nest and she wasn't moving! Given her current good humor, I wasn't about to make her, either. We tried putting her in a nest box that was a little more out of the way at first and she came uncorked - the noise when she woke up and wasn't on "her" nest woke us out of a dead sleep. And that, of course, set the other girls off. So we put her back where she wanted to be, let her settle for a few days, and then put the new eggs under her when they arrived. The first dog crate was the bottom half of one of those plastic ones. I didn't like it because I couldn't monitor her to make sure she was doing okay and I had to lift the whole thing up and move it away to refill her food and water or to see if she wanted out for a bit. I made a couple of adjustments but they weren't really going to work either. So we bought a wire one with two doors - one that opens where her nest is and the other on the side so I can access food and water. I like this set up much better. After the other girls have laid their eggs for the day I can leave the side door open so she can get out and move around outside with them if she wants.I don't have to worry about the others laying eggs on her nest because I don't open that side door until I've got the last egg of the day.

So far as I've been able to tell, she hadn't eaten or drunk anything since the eggs went in. I had the feeder and water on a board at the far end and I coated it with dirt from their dust bath. In two days that dirt was not disturbed. I didn't like that one bit. At least with this one I can leave the side door open for her and she can actually leave the coop if she wants, but with food and water in there she doesn't have to. I know I'm over-thinking this whole thing but Agatha is my little grandaughter's chicken and if anything happens to her.......

There is NO WAY Miss GrouchyButt is going to let anyone pick her up, unless of course your son feels like a trip to Wyoming. I'm finding advantages to the crate...she can see out, they can see her, so integration shouldn't be a problem when she's done. I can observe without disturbing her. And we put an old rubber mat on the top of it held down with bungie cords and the other girls are using it to access the hanging nest boxes and the roost. The broody takes up so much floor space in the coop that they had just one small area they could fly down from. Since Agatha can't see them up there, everyone is happy. Things seemed much more peaceful after we changed to a more open broody box. Time will tell.


Before, with the plastic dog crate half in there. Oh, and Kat getting ready to hop into one of the hanging boxes.

 
Ooooo I like your broody setup! I may have to do something like that! I happen to have a small kennel that isn't being used at the moment. Well Ernestine is back in the original nest box that we tried to move her from and staring at me when I peep at her as if to say 'I DARE you to try moving me again...' hahahaa I guess if she's going to be that stubborn I will have to block her off so the other girls quit climbing on top of her to lay eggs. they refuse to use the other nest box. I've never gotten a single egg in it. I have no idea what makes it less desirable but hopefully they'll look past whatever it is and use it as long as the other is 'out of order'
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