broody noob

[cameroneil]

to all the chicken folk, i say most fondly, BWAK!

so i have these two silkies, see. pearl and ninja. they have both been laying great. then pearl, the lovely pillowqueen pearl, went broody probably 2 weeks ago. i know this is normal, i know this is a silkie thing too, but...i ask you...what do i do?

she is lazy anyway so it was hard to tell when she actually went broody. but then i figured out that ninja was the only one laying anymore. it was confirmed when, at one point, when i removed pearl from the coop and put her down in the run, this fluffy white foofy looking chicken puffed herself up and TOLD OFF THE HUGE DOG that was peaceably observing. he ran away. pearl is one irritable chicken right now!

i have taken her off the nest jillions of times. i have gently misted her (and myself) with cool water. i have put ice on the nest under her. i've sweet talked her, i've cuddled her, i've offered delicious treats, i've shaken my fist at the world, and none of these have done any good. in fact, when i kick her out of the coop, she will walk around, scratch, poop, dust bathe, otherwise act normal......until i walk away. then she goes back up in there and plops herself down.

just today i kicked her out with ninja and shut the coop door so she couldn't get in! i even let ninja in at one point, knowing she was in an egg-laying mood. pearl still had to stay outside. she walked around, pooped, scratched, chilled in the shade for a bit (it is super duper central texas summer right now whoo wee!), acting fairly normal. i wondered if it was over, in fact, and i went out there to allow them access to the coop again, just because it's so freaking hot. and of course this was just the break she was looking for. she is back up in there now and i don't have the heart to kick her out again.

so: options? i have a wire cage a la guinea pig, but it seems so small...she would probably fit though, with a little food and water. but for how long? and will broodiness eventually resolve itself? i don't want to stress her out with unnatural broody-breaking methods if i just have to wait a bit longer. but again i ask you...how long?

thank you for reading! i appreciate your wisdom! --cameroneil

p.s. check my blog if you're bored: totallyurbanfarmer.blogspot.com

 

[gritsar]

Wire cage, yes a small one will do, with absolutely no material that could be used by an evil little silkie to build a nest.

OR

Give her a few fertile eggs. Watching a broody raise chicks is awesome.

 

[ChickenSahib]

I would just give her some fertile eggs. Doesn't seem like she's going to quit, especially if she just goes back to it once you leave. Plus, who doesn't want baby chickies?@!

 

[cameroneil]

i am thrilled...it looks like ms. pearl decided to stop being broody on her own. thanks for the suggestions.....

i actually put some 6 week old chicks out there with the two of them recently, and her quitting the broodiness seemed to coincide with that introduction. could it be that she somehow convinced herself that the new chicks were her own, now old enough to not need her, and thus her broodiness ceased? how's that for some chicken psychology!

anyway, thanks for all the help, you chickenfolk. this is a great forum.

 

[sheaviance1]

Okay, so i am hijacking your thread for just a minute. I checked out your blog, you, my dear, are a nut! I enjoyed reading your farmer's market adventure, and will use the term grillsperiment in conversation today. Nice blog!