Buff Orpington won't leave nesting box?? What could this be?

[Tecalli]

What-- spelling kounts? Argh, I don't no how two right a sentence without a spell checker. BYC will need to add this feeture

 

[Yaya's Hen House]

I just put a Buff Orpington broody back in with the flock today and she is doing just fine. I never removed her out of the coop technically, I just put the cage in the coop, so she is/was still with the other hens unless they got to go out to free range. I guess they never noticed she wasn't still a part of the flock. She has always been with them, they just couldn't get to her and she couldn't get to the nesting boxes. It only took her 3 days to get un-broody. The cage was all wire. If you want babe chicks let her have the eggs, if not take her off. This just worked for me, thought I would share.

 

[cackilacky]

Quote:
Do you have a rooster and/or source of fertile eggs and want baby chicks? If not, and you want your hen to start laying again, follow the advice on the other thread and snap her out of it. Otherwise, I've read (don't know from experience) that she can stay broody a long time. My BO was broody last week and we did a dog crate "broody pen" inside the covered run and I'm happy to say that after 2 days she has completely forgotten that she wanted to sit on eggs 24/7! Good luck!

 

[frankenchick]

The only "bad" thing about going broody is that the hen will not be laying more eggs while she's setting these. Well, and you may end up with a lot of chicks. Oh, wait -- that's not a bad thing . . .

The main thing to watch for is how she behaves when the babies start pipping. [this'll be roughly 21 days from when she started setting] Some new mommas will peck at the hatchlings. I don't know if they always mean to kill the babies, but that can be the result. It wouldn't hurt to have an incubator handy, or a set up with a heat lamp and damp towels (for humidity, so babies don't dry out).

How exciting! There's usually no trouble, just move hen and chicks to a separate pen (or an old dog kennel, in our case) and let nature take its course. If you do have any questions, naturally you can come to BYC.

ETA: Oops. Guess I assumed these were fertile eggs! And we all know what comes of assuming . . .

 

[nyice]

Quote:
A quick question. We have eggs due to hatch this weekend. Our Cochin is broody and has been sitting on some fertilized eggs. If we are to move her and the eggs, when would we do it, day 21 or before? Or should we wait until they hatch. We have a converted bunny hutch ready.

 

[azelgin]

Quote:
Best not to move her until after the hatch. She will be upset by being moved from her original nest site and may abandon her eggs at the new home. Moving a boody at any time is a risky operation. After she has chicks it will be an easy deal.

 

[nyice]

Quote:
Best not to move her until after the hatch. She will be upset by being moved from her original nest site and may abandon her eggs at the new home. Moving a boody at any time is a risky operation. After she has chicks it will be an easy deal.

Thanks! This being our first hatch we really have no idea. Makes sense not moving her nest though.

 

[evonne]

my first broody hen, an EE now has 8 little bantams running around her little cage with her.. i feel bad about having her in the small cage.. it's like 2x3, but it was the nest box.. i think it was originally a small parrot cage, and i was goingto put some vining flowers in it on the porch till the girls decided tht was the cool place to lay eggs... boy were they upset when sugar wouldn't let them in anymore...

but on to the cool part of this story....

the otehr day i thought maybe sugar wasn't getting enough food in there.. i feed them twice a day.. but... you know.. worrying... so i decided to give her a little treat of some chunks of hot dog bun...
i figured she would just gobble it up like normal and so i left the chunks big.. she grabbed them and shook them and chomped them and dropped them back to the ground for the babies...
SSOOO sweet...
i think that was the neatest part of this broody experience...
and yes, i guess i'm a bad chicky granma.. got them hooked on jnk food already... no breadis not the normal treat... usually it's veggies...

good luck with your broodies.. enjoy them.....