Chicken kicked out of flock

[chickapeeps]

I need some help trying to figure this one out. I have 4 girls that have been together since day 1. 2 Polish and 2 Wyandottes. They've been together for the last 2 years. They free range during the day and go in and out of the raised coop for food and nesting boxes. For the last week and a half, one of the polish was missing. I thought maybe a hawk had gotten her even though we've got a dog on the lookout. Turns out she was hiding out in thick bushes. She came out of hiding yesterday when I was gardening and the other 3 were very mean to her. It seems like she's been kicked out of the coop.

My husband and I tracked her down at dusk and put her in a temporary cage to keep her safe for the night. She was actually sitting on quite a few of her eggs.

I tried to sit together with all of them to see what was going on. Whenever I garden they come up to me for petting and will sit on my lap when I am on the grass. Now, the ex-communicated polish (Frizzy) puffs up to double her size. She also goes from being comfortable around me to scared and hesitant (and puffy.) I have no idea what to do. Do I get her her own coop? I already have 2 coops going, but the other flock goes into a run during the day because they are not nice to the four.

I even let them all out together yesterday (supervised) to see if they would kind of band together but no luck at all.

My husband won't exactly be happy with ANOTHER coop, but I can't do nothing. We have too many predators to let her sleep in the bushes.

I do have an XL dog crate I can use (because of course the XL dog does not like it

)

Any suggestions on getting them back together?

 

[mstricer]

She wasn't kicked out, she's broody.

 

[chickapeeps]

So how do I keep her safe at night? Do I put her eggs in the dog crate so that she will at least be in a place that I can lock her up at night?
We don't have a rooster so her eggs will not hatch. Do I just leave her sitting on them and maybe take a few out here and there? And then will she reintegrate?

Sorry for all of the questions. Never had this problem before

 

[devora]

Wow, a broody Polish, no wonder you've never had this problem: it's not that common.

Remove all the eggs. Keep her in the cage for a few days w/ no nesting materials. You're trying to "break" her of this setting.

As to safety, don't know. I have a secure Broody Prison. I suppose you could simply put the crate in your coop. ??

They can pick on a bird after a brood and my broodies always seem to lose their place in the pecking order and have to start over.

Good luck w/ it!

 

[mstricer]

So how do I keep her safe at night? Do I put her eggs in the dog crate so that she will at least be in a place that I can lock her up at night?
We don't have a rooster so her eggs will not hatch. Do I just leave her sitting on them and maybe take a few out here and there? And then will she reintegrate?

Sorry for all of the questions. Never had this problem before

Are you sure the others are picking on her or that she is just going to her nest? Do you want her to hatch out? If so can you find eggs. You can always try an experiment and get some fresh free range eggs from the store and give them to her. All three of my broody hens hatched out clutches, The D'Uccle who is bossy and everyone runs from her, and 2 Spitzenhaubens one has 8 chicks the other 5. They all are raising their babies in the coop with the main flock.

 

[donrae]

Sounds like you don't have room for chicks anyway, so check around here, there are tons of threads on breaking a broody. It will take up to a week, and then the others may still give her a hard time but they'll work it out.

 

[chickapeeps]

Thanks for the comments. I did look around on "broody" to get some ideas. I had no idea what a behavior change it was. I thought it just meant that she didn't want to leave her eggs. I had never heard of the puffiness and growling! It was spot on. I've had her locked up in the rabbit hutch now elevated on a table near the other coop and got rid of the eggs. Locked her up and then let her out not realizing I had to "break" her. Now she's been locked up with no bedding since Monday evening.

I did suggest to my husband that we just slip a few chicks under her. That didn't go over well

He hates chicken math. I thought it was a great idea.

I hope she breaks her funk soon. She is usually so sweet. I hope she's able to reintegrate when she's done with her mood.

 

[chickengoober]

This exact thing happened to me just a few weeks ago. Five hens together since they were little chicks with no problems up until one of my Orpingtons went broody. It seemed she was forever banished from the flock- none of the other hens wanted anything to do with her and would chase her away whenever she got to close. I don't have a rooster either, so I went ahead and separated the broody hen in a large dog kennel. I left the dog kennel inside the enclosed run so that she was still near the rest of the flock but they couldn't actually get to her. Their run is fully reinforced with a chainlink top and a chainlink shirt around the bottom, so I left her in the kennel during the night too. Eventually I was able to do supervised free ranging with them (I just sat out with a book and whenever things got hairy, I would intervene.) Long story short, the flock is back together and doing fine.

Good luck with your broody! Hope everything turns out well.

 

[Nat chickenmama]

Hi there, I know this is an old post but I thought I would share just in case you come across this issue again.
If you don't want her to hatch the eggs then just remove them and then soak her in a cool bath for about 10-15 mins, then blow dry her on med warm( unless it's really hot outside, if the
Acts the case I let the air dry). This is all I ever do and it has always worked. She should go back in the coop that night and be back to normal. The cool bath changes their hormones so they aren't broody anymore. Hope this helps.

 

[bradbryan777]

I need some help trying to figure this one out. I have 4 girls that have been together since day 1. 2 Polish and 2 Wyandottes. They've been together for the last 2 years. They free range during the day and go in and out of the raised coop for food and nesting boxes. For the last week and a half, one of the polish was missing. I thought maybe a hawk had gotten her even though we've got a dog on the lookout. Turns out she was hiding out in thick bushes. She came out of hiding yesterday when I was gardening and the other 3 were very mean to her. It seems like she's been kicked out of the coop.

My husband and I tracked her down at dusk and put her in a temporary cage to keep her safe for the night. She was actually sitting on quite a few of her eggs.

I tried to sit together with all of them to see what was going on. Whenever I garden they come up to me for petting and will sit on my lap when I am on the grass. Now, the ex-communicated polish (Frizzy) puffs up to double her size. She also goes from being comfortable around me to scared and hesitant (and puffy.) I have no idea what to do. Do I get her her own coop? I already have 2 coops going, but the other flock goes into a run during the day because they are not nice to the four.

I even let them all out together yesterday (supervised) to see if they would kind of band together but no luck at all.

My husband won't exactly be happy with ANOTHER coop, but I can't do nothing. We have too many predators to let her sleep in the bushes.

I do have an XL dog crate I can use (because of course the XL dog does not like it

)

Any suggestions on getting them back together?

I’m dealing with the same thing. But I think my outcast hen is injured, not broody.