broody on golf ball ? help anyone ?

[moosenbudda]

Only one of my 18 ladies have started laying and shes a little egg laying machine. in the past 3 weeks shes laid about a dozen eggs, We've been taking them out every evening, well after she laid the dozen she decided she wants to hatch the golf ball that got her started in the first place ! I dont know if I should push her out of the box and take out the gold ball or would that scare her to much. she hasnt laid anything in about 5 days since shes been trying to lay on the golf ball. what do I do ??? Shes a millie fluer OEG mix bantam I dont know if it matters.

 

[moosenbudda]

anyone out there have any suggestions ?

 

[astatula]

Get rid of the golf ball. Push her from the nest if she does not let the other hens in, they would like to lay an egg too. You won't scare her you will tell her that there is nothing to sit on so start laying again.

 

[Kittymomma]

You may have to "break" her if you don't want to get some fertile eggs for her so she can hatch some chicks. I belive the most common method is to put the hen in an elevated wire bottom cage with no nesting material, just food and water. You can do a search for "breaking a broody" to find more information on this. Good luck.

 

[Wildsky]

Some are harder to get out of the "brood" stage than others, I keep taking my hens out of the nest boxes and moving them outside during the day (they all free-range) 9 times out of 10 the hen will run back.

If its a duck I put them in water, they hate me for a while............ then run back.

After a while (few days) they get the message.

 

[obchix]

When your other girls start laying she will try to steal their eggs to sit on. Unless you have some fertilized eggs you may want to get her done with her broodiness. I have had three broodys so far (out of 4 hens @ 1 yr old). I put them in "solitary" for a few days and they start laying again 5-7 days after that. I put them in a wire mesh rabbit cage with food and water in our shed. It usually takes about 36-48 hours and they get the picture. Good luck.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

Would you want a few more chicks? I never stopped a brood. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with it, I just never did it. Did you consider giving her all her eggs back?

 

[Bedste]

I would give her a few fertilized eggs...... even if you have to get them from else where....

 

[montana girl]

If you want her to stop brooding, get the golf ball out. I did the same thing, had a fake egg in there and my little bantam I think would have sat on that fake egg until she died of old age or starvation lol. As soon as I took the egg out, within a day she was back to normal.

 

[lywilliams]

So I have little cochin bantam that is broody again and I am letting her sit on some fertilized eggs I got from elsewhere. This will be the third batch she has raised. She is a good little mom. Anyway, I am writing a children's story about The Broody Hen (I am a teacher) Does anyone have any cute stories or even photos of a broody hen I could use with permission? I have this darling video of me giving her the eggs. So cute.