Broody Hen Thread!

[erous1]

Hi, I was wondering if broody chooks ALWAYS sit on eggs or on straw on the ground, or do they sometimes just sit on the perch all day? I don't know if one of my 5 chickens is sick or could it be broody? It has been sitting on the perch, fluffed up for almost two weeks now. I took it to the vet, to get it checked out, but the vet could not see anything wrong with it. I take it out in the morning and in the afternoons when I am home so it gets to eat and drink (which it does), but then she returns back to her perch. So I wondered, could she be sick or could another possibility be that she is broody but instead of sitting on the straw, decides to perch herself? thank you for any feedback.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I always hook and tie too.

Lady of McCamley, for some reason I thought you were more rural? Have you tried other means of heat. pop bottles filled with water heated by the sun or various types of insulation? Or using a packing blacket, emergency silver sheet or furnace wrap to cover the coop with on cold nights?

A place near me is giving away the coconut fibre sheets from recycled mattresses. They are good for weed control in the garden and pathways and soil erosion. I wonder if I could insulate with these.... All of my coop, green house and gardens are made from 100% recycled materials.

My coop is a walk in with a 6 ft ceiling. I haven't worried until now about the odd night with a heat lamp but both of my Brahma/icelandics have suddenly discovered they can fly. Altho the coop is tall, it's only 5x9ft. Not much room to fly and not hit something! We are looking to expand 3x the size. I'd show pics but for some reason my page on the PC will not give me that option. Hence the bad photos from my cell phone lol.

I live very rural and a neighbor had her sheep barn burn down a few years back with the new spring lambs.... Heat lamps and straw. It was very sad for our whole community. I would be devastated if I lost my feathered friends so harshly. I don't know if I could rebuild. Good for you!
Becky.

Heated by the sun....you have to have sun for that to work...in northwestern Oregon, well, that is just something we don't see a lot of...it's that big yellow shiny thing in the sky, right?

90% of my winter is rain...drizzle....mist....pouring....we have a lot of different names for the wet stuff that comes almost non-stop from the sky....with the temp pretty much day and night in the 40's. (I once counted 96 days straight of rain...no sun...we were looking for that big boat to load the chickens onto).

Then spring/fall....it warms up to 50's- 60's with some 70's...and, rains.

We have one month of summer...August...we see sunshine then...that's that big yellow ball again, right? Gets into the 80's, even 90's....and then September rains. Cooler coastal rain... then the rainy season hits again. (Maybe a little exaggerated, but not much)

If you've ever read Lewis & Clark's diaries, when they make it to Ft. Clatsop in Astoria...Clark (I think it was) writes:
Arrived at northwest Coast. It is raining.
He writes more entries...and ends....it rains.
He writes more daily entries and writes....it rains still.
Finally after a month, he writes..."this is the rainiest country I've ever seen...everything is molding, the leather is disintegrating from the rot...and yet it rains"

My Oregon.

Lady of McCamley

 

[fisherlady]

Quote:
Thanks... we stumbled on it by accident, we had just filled the dog dish partially with sand and set the waterer down into it, but it didn't transmit the heat too well, when I moved it to do something we noticed the sand on the floor under it was nice and warm and my husband got to looking closer and realized where the heating coil was, so we just flipped it over and 'Ta-da'! Having it elevated a bit also helps reduce the amount of bedding and sand that gets kicked into it also.

Our one broody, Gracie, loves the dish set up, she snuggles her chest right up tight against it and rests her beak on the edge and snoozes during the day for a quick warm-up.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Hi, I was wondering if broody chooks ALWAYS sit on eggs or on straw on the ground, or do they sometimes just sit on the perch all day? I don't know if one of my 5 chickens is sick or could it be broody? It has been sitting on the perch, fluffed up for almost two weeks now. I took it to the vet, to get it checked out, but the vet could not see anything wrong with it. I take it out in the morning and in the afternoons when I am home so it gets to eat and drink (which it does), but then she returns back to her perch. So I wondered, could she be sick or could another possibility be that she is broody but instead of sitting on the straw, decides to perch herself? thank you for any feedback.

In my experience, she's not brooding...broody hens sit on nests.

Lady of McCamley

 

[kmollyhughes]

In my experience, she's not brooding...broody hens sit on nests.

Lady of McCamley

X2. Mine hate roosting when they are broody. They'll make a nest anywhere they can, but never get up on the roost.

 

[fisherlady]

Quote:
X3... I have had hens be 'clucky' and puffy when they are getting in a broody mood, but that stage doesn't last more than a few days, then they park themselves on a nest and go into full broody mood. Even when they are in that stage they spend their time roaming around griping at the other birds and generally being grumpy with everyone. What you describe just doesn't sound like anything I have experienced with my hens. I would watch for other illness signs or watch how the other birds are treating her to see if she is being picked on a lot so she stays on the roost to avoid it.

 

[foreverlearning]

A place near me is giving away the coconut fibre sheets from recycled mattresses. They are good for weed control in the garden and pathways and soil erosion. I wonder if I could insulate with these.... All of my coop, green house and gardens are made from 100% recycled materials.

My concern with recycled parts of a mattress would be bed bugs...they will bite anything living. They have an exoskeleton so anything natural that would kill ants, fleas, and roaches would work to kill them. Other then that, that is a great idea!

 

[foreverlearning]

Hi, I was wondering if broody chooks ALWAYS sit on eggs or on straw on the ground, or do they sometimes just sit on the perch all day? I don't know if one of my 5 chickens is sick or could it be broody? It has been sitting on the perch, fluffed up for almost two weeks now. I took it to the vet, to get it checked out, but the vet could not see anything wrong with it. I take it out in the morning and in the afternoons when I am home so it gets to eat and drink (which it does), but then she returns back to her perch. So I wondered, could she be sick or could another possibility be that she is broody but instead of sitting on the straw, decides to perch herself? thank you for any feedback.

Not broody, she is sick and can't get warm. Did your vet do a fecal float test for worms? If not, I suggest worming just in case. Did he check for other parasites? They are hard to see. Bring her inside, give her heat to help keep warm, vitamins in the water to perk her up a little bit, and watch to see if there is anything else that she shows for sickness.

 

[Hannahs Hollow]

...

My concern with recycled parts of a mattress would be bed bugs...they will bite anything living. They have an exoskeleton so anything natural that would kill ants, fleas, and roaches would work to kill them. Other then that, that is a great idea!
[/quote

Oh gawd! remind me not to get a job there! I would treat well with DE first but you have a good point. Maybe I would weather them first on a fence for a few weeks.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Not broody, she is sick and can't get warm. Did your vet do a fecal float test for worms? If not, I suggest worming just in case. Did he check for other parasites? They are hard to see. Bring her inside, give her heat to help keep warm, vitamins in the water to perk her up a little bit, and watch to see if there is anything else that she shows for sickness.

x2
Lady of McCamley