broody record

[superchemicalgirl]

I have had an easter egger broody for what seems like forever. Today I finally got out the egg chart and figured out when the last time she laid an egg was... June 13th!!! Holy cow. That's 11.5 weeks. I have tried various methods of breaking her from "let her sit, she'll give up" to the wire cage method... but she'll even sit on a table in my garage and pretend to brood her invisible eggs. Yeah, she's been broody so long she's crazy with the tactile hallucinations.

I've decided to give in today and let her sit on some eggs. But I'm going to separate her in a cage in the coop with her own food and water since she's so skinny.

She did fail a duckling surrogacy program earlier this week. She loved them but they hated her with a passion. And she's still broody.

But our summers here are so short! She's spent the entire summer pretty much in a nesting box. Crazy chicken.

What's your record?

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

I had a hen stay broody starting at the very beginning of spring and she didn't quite until it got cold. I ended up with 48 peeps last year. That broody was a total enabler, guess she knew I really wanted chicks. Perhaps its not a good idea to give them eggs just because they'll hatch them

I also put my broodies in their own cage with food and water, they look so pitiful when they get all skinny and ragged looking. She and I came to an agreement this spring, one clutch and we were done! Good luck- sending lots of chickie vibes your way

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

I have a little red hatchery cochin - Ruby...............her life long ambition and only dream is to raise a family. She prefers to do this at least 4 times a year, five if she can squeeze it in with all fertile eggs every clutch. Last year, due to poor fertility with the group I was trying to hatch from, she sat for just over 3 months on "bad" eggs until some hatched.


If you were close to me, I could give you some chicks to sneak under your broody

Here she is with her latest clutch - 8.25.11

And here is her previous clutch 6.04.11 - yes one is a turkey poult, two are mille fleur cochin chicks and one is a large fowl orpington - a varied clutch

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I have a broody GLW that's similar to yours in the broody marathon - she hatched eggs for the first time in the middle of December and into January. It was below zero and she didn't lose a single one. She's since been broody another 3 times since then. She lost her chick the second time (broody fight) and the third time I told her no. She's on the 4th time now and I still say no.

I have 46 chickens and hatch quite a bit... but I'm done this year. So I thought. She's now (against my best judgment) in the coop in her cage on 2 golf balls and a banty egg that has a thick shell. If she stay on them until bed I'm going to remove the golf balls and stick another egg or two under her.