Cage cleaning with a brooding hen...?

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DK newbie said:
I'd say it depends on the hen and on how bad it is. And how badly you want chicks. I don't clean within 3-4 feet of my button hens when they are broody, but most of them live in relatively large enclosures that don't get too dirty from a couple of extra weeks without cleaning. If you have a very calm hen and/or don't really care whether you get chicks or not, I guess you could try cleaning some of the cage. But if I were in your situation with a really dirty, not too large enclosure, I think I'd follow Henry's suggestion - I'd wait for the hen to leave the nest herself (it tends to break the broodiness sometimes if the hen gets chased from the nest by your presence), then throw a pile of new bedding in the opposite end of the cage and leave it to the birds to distribute it in the cage.
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She does leave to eat, but the enclosure is rather large and she is very calm, so I could clean out beneath the food and water (which is at the other end of the cage) and put fresh for the others to distribute. I don't necessarily want more chicks, but I also don't want to kill chicks that could be alive already in the eggs!
 
blackoaktammy said:
I didn't know they made a movie! Although, maybe it's good I never saw it if it was that horrible.
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Do. not. watch. it. They killed the spirit of the story. They tried to cram elements of all five books into it, they turned Gurgi into a cute little self sacrificing creature, they had Taran waving Dyrnwyn around like a toy, and other butcheries.
 
OK, so when I cleaned the cage, I took all the birdies out, because Hen Wen saw me taking everyone out and putting them in their little holding pen, and wanted to go along too. So I popped her in there, and scooped all the bedding out around the nesting box. Through the whole thing, I kept seeing Hen Wen poking her head up to watch what I was doing. It was absolutely adorable. She seemed to trust me though, because she didn't seem to upset. (Her and one of my other hens are very sweet.) Made quick work of laying down new bedding, didn't disturb her nest at all, popped her back in first, and she seemed absolutely fine. Went over to the food and water, poked at both, then went back to her nest. Easy peasy! I was worried about nothing!

Now my other hen started laying, but she won't sit on her eggs. Hen Wen steals them and sticks them under her butt, so she's got eight eggs under there now!
 
Quailbert Quailington said:
OK, so when I cleaned the cage, I took all the birdies out, because Hen Wen saw me taking everyone out and putting them in their little holding pen, and wanted to go along too. So I popped her in there, and scooped all the bedding out around the nesting box. Through the whole thing, I kept seeing Hen Wen poking her head up to watch what I was doing. It was absolutely adorable. She seemed to trust me though, because she didn't seem to upset. (Her and one of my other hens are very sweet.) Made quick work of laying down new bedding, didn't disturb her nest at all, popped her back in first, and she seemed absolutely fine. Went over to the food and water, poked at both, then went back to her nest. Easy peasy! I was worried about nothing!

Now my other hen started laying, but she won't sit on her eggs. Hen Wen steals them and sticks them under her butt, so she's got eight eggs under there now!
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Sorry for the delayed response, but that's good news. Glad it worked out! Is she still collecting eggs? At some point I would mark the eggs you want her to hatch and start taking the new ones away. Once the chicks start hatching for a couple days, she might get off the nest to begin raising them and abandon some of the later eggs. Do you have an incubator to handle those eggs if that happens? There's nothing like watching a hen hatch and raise her own chicks! Good luck with it all, and show us pics of the new babies!
 

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