Do broodies not drink much water?

[karmical]

Curious about anyone's experience with broodies drinking (or NOT drinking) water while 'setting'.

And to elaborate a little bit:

My Buff Rock girl has gone broody AGAIN...first time was a month ago and I was able to get her immediately into a raised 'cage' and she snapped out of it in about 3 days. This time, I didn't have the space to put up the cage right away and she's been on an empty nest for about a week now...she gets up and out in the morning for about 5 minutes and eats a little mash with the other birds (and does the big stinky poop

), but I haven't seen her drink any water at all. I suppose she could be getting up during the day when I'm not there, but I just wanted to ask. My SF went broody on me last month too and I noticed she wasn't interested in water either.

One more question:

When she DOES come off the nest in the morning and I watch her walk around, I notice that her feathers stay REALLY fluffed out! And she'll do a whole-body shake.

I can't WAIT for this weekend to come so I can get her off that nest! She's my favorite and I've already noticed a weight loss. Which makes me think of a third question: ?Could this be something else? other than her going broody?

Thanks!

 

[silkiechicken]

Mine drinks water. She comes screeching out like a banchee and eats, drinks and poo's very quickly. I like to call her a turkey.

Mine ended up sitting for 6 weeks last round though... she probably went from 6 to about 4 lbs in that time. Back up to her weight again now.

Sounds pretty normal. As long as she doesn't become listless, she should be fine.

 

[raindrop]

Mine always got relatively skinny when they were broody. Got up once a day, ran to the food and ate a bunch, ran to the water, then ran back to the nest, feathers puffed out and clucking and screeching the whole time.

 

[Mulemom]

I have two that are broody right now too. One has been on an empty next for nearly a month! I kick them both out of the nest a couple times a day, and they both seem starved and really thirsty. The RIR's comb amd wattles are really pale compared to the others and I am really starting to worry about her.
Karmical, you mentioned putting her in a cage and that got her over it? Can you elaborate?

 

[BrahmaMama]

I just love the descriptions of the screeching, puffy hens

 

[karmical]

Thanks, everybody....not sure why my girl isn't going for the water! But I guess as long as she seems somewhat "broody-normal" I won't worry too much.

Mulemom - I thought about PM-ing this to you, but maybe it'll help somebody else too!...I got this trick from a couple other people on BYC, but can't remember who to give credit to! Sorry out there! Anyways...what worked for breaking her up from being broody last time: I took a medium sized dog crate and replaced the solid plastic floor tray with hardware cloth (you want the bottom to be open like that so the air comes up underneath them). Then I rigged up a platform using scrap 2x4's so the cage would be up off the ground a couple of feet. I put a couple of 2x4's across the cage floor to give her feet a break from the hardware cloth and for her to "roost" on....and food and water of course

(I found metal dishes/feeders for rabbit cages at the pet store that worked well hanging off the dog crate wall). Also, I would let her out once in the AM for a little exercise and then once in the PM. You can tell if they're getting over it by how fast they try to get back into the nesting box

It's really important to make sure they don't get back in the nest or it sets back the whole breaking process. I knew she was over it when she didn't even LOOK at a nest when I let her out. The theory behind this "broody cage" is that there's nothing available to "nest" with and something about it being open air on all 6 sides snaps them out of it. She HATED it for the first day and cried and cried, but by day 2 she was ok with it and by day 4 she was her old, non-broody self and I could let her out again...of course, that time around I put her in it immediately once I realized she was going broody. We'll see how long it takes this time! I'll post a pic of the contraption this weekend once I get her set up again.

Sorry that ended up being so long! Hope it helps!

 

[Mulemom]

I have a rabbit cage that is raised with a wire floor. I kept my new roo seperated in that for a few days but put straw on the floor so he would not be walking on the metal. So I should not put any straw in there and just give her a 2x4 to roost on? That sounds easy enough. I'll let you know how it works! Thanks!

 

[karmical]

Sounds perfect Mulemom! Leave the straw out, put in 2x4s and you should be good to go

Good luck and let me know!