- Apr 8, 2014
- 6
- 0
- 60
My sympathy to you about your broody. We bought two Buff Orphingtons and were given another. We have 9 other hens who seem to almost never go broody and can be broken in a day or two in our rabbit cage (all wire set up on blocks with food and water dispensers). But those Buffs are DETERMINED. I had one Buff (Petunia) be broody for 1.5 months and another (Clementine) for about 2 weeks. The broody I am working on now (Cream Puff) has been broody since June (two broodies in the cage at a time does work, even though our cage is quite small for two). I would let her hatch but I cannot bear for hatchling to be a roo. If it were to be a hen we just don't have room for one more body in the hen house. Selling them is too hard for us because who knows how they'll be cared for - or put in a pot - since we raise ours organic. We get so attached to their lovely personalities - even the broodys are hilarious. Hormones are a trip - totally changes their personality. Who wouldn't like a free or cheap organic chicken for supper. Today I let our marathon broody, Creamy, now named Cream Puff, stay in her cage during the torrential rain. Usually I let her out of the cage during fowl (lol!) weather. I figure part of the problem is that it's just do darn warm outside there are no chilling breezes to cool off her undercarriage enough. Now I just need to find a good chicken sitter to get them all in the hen house at night when we go on vacation next month! I'd hate for our stubborn girls to get eaten by a predator (uncovered pen, separate nesting boxes from the hen house, although we do have a pullet shut door on the hen house that works well for non-broodies). You can always look on the bright side -- a hen is born to lay a fixed number of eggs in her lifetime. If she's broody all the time she won't lay often, which means she will lay late into her life (more than just 3-4 years).
