Can hearing a rooster crowing make hens go broody? Even if it's on TV?

Mother of Chaos and Rosemary and Thyme,
Thanks for your advice, and everyone for your comments. I'll look for the parrot water cup. I keep a small fan running in the area where the nest boxes are all day, every day in hot weather, to get rid of the smells, and cool it off. When it's cold I just put it on for an hour in the morning. During the day they usually only go in there to lay eggs. They sleep there all night, so that's where the smells are concentrated, even after I've taken the poop out. I ended up bringing her inside the air conditioned house in the big dog crate, with water, until I saw her drink. A couple of hours. She was much better after. But at night she was running scared after looking at the broody jail, so I told her she could sleep on the roost, and she went right up there and got on it. (Who taught them to understand English?). In the morning I found her in the nest box, but she hadn't been there long, because it was clean. She's loose eating right now, so I better go check on her.
 
Well, I think the broody drama is over. Thank you so much for all your help and advice. Every time I go out to look at Buffy (my Buff Orpington) (after 3 days in Broody Jail), she is out in the run walking around, enjoying her freedom. Everyone else had started laying normally again. I do catch her in the nest box in the early morning, but maybe she is just trying to start laying again. Everybody is happy. Last night I got home after dark and found them all roosting outside in the run, but I heard a noise of somebody scuffling around in the coop. My trusty flashlight revealed a nasty MOUSE, coming out of their nesting area, walking down the ramp like she owned the place! As Roseana Roseanadana used to say, "There's always something!"

I screamed so loud that the neighbors asked me if I needed help!
 

Attachments

  • There's Always Something!.jpeg
    There's Always Something!.jpeg
    2.4 KB · Views: 4
Latest Buffy update: She's laying again! and everything is back to "normal". I decided it was time to do a deep "Annual Coop/Run Cleanup" since there were smells that didn't go away with routine cleaning. I removed ten 3 gallon buckets of loose material (old bedding and dirt, as well as the top six inches of "poo mud" that was caked into a hard surface (that looked dry on top, but wasn't. It doesn't get much air and sun in the under coop area. The ladies were pleased to be left out in "the pasture" (chicken tractor with a wire roof that I move around my back lawn) for three days during this project. It also gave me a chance to inspect for entry points for the uninvited (rodent) guest. I put down Sweet PDZ and let in air out for a few days, while I carried the ladies from pasture directly to bed (without letting them loose in the run.) I found two possible points of entry, which I fixed with hardware cloth and heavy rocks on top. Then I sprayed all the ground surfaces with Eaton's new Coop Odor Eliminator, and after it dried I put down Eaton's hemp bedding in the "deep litter area" filled the rectangular dust bath with new coarse sand (dug up from a yard project), and spread new "potting soil" (which is mostly just partially decomposed bark.) everywhere else. One more thing I did was get rid of all the small rocks which had been under the tree. The chickens throw it all around and it sometimes gets stuck in a crack between the patio and the run entrance and prevents to door from closing. I dug out the debris in the tree well, and put the small rocks there, covered with bigger rocks that I don't think the hens will be able to move.
Here's the result.
 

Attachments

  • Run outside the coop.jpeg
    Run outside the coop.jpeg
    970.1 KB · Views: 4
  • newly cleaned chicken run.jpeg
    newly cleaned chicken run.jpeg
    818 KB · Views: 4

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom