Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

[Shadrach]

Poor cashew. I put a block of ice in the box she was sitting in. When she came back to the coop, she paced back-and-forth not sure what to do. She eventually sat in the nest beside it. Mind you, there are no eggs in any of the boxes. I remove them hours ago. I have dipped her in a cool bucket of water twice and removed her from the nest box several times. I’ve closed the door to the coop. She got super stressed about that, so I reopened it. Poor thing. I think I’m gonna have to figure out how to put her on some wire with air underneath her.
But I would really like is just to get her a couple chicks and be done with it.

I've come to the conclusion that trying to cool them down doesn't really work. Here it takes about three days for broodiness to switch off. It doesn't seem to matter what the circumstances are in that period of time. The rise in body temperature I believe is hormone driven, largely independent of outside factors. As long as they don't have a nest to sit in with eggs, all here switch themselves off over time.

 

[Shadrach]

It was such a cold rainy day that everybody spent most of the day inside the run complex.

Well that didn't take long. It looks to me from the pictures that their run complex has extended into your house.

 

[Shadrach]

I thought yall said not to put a broody in water

We did and you shouldn't imo.

 

[Shadrach]

Maybe that’s what she meant... just her legs...
But I did want to ask.. why do yall refer to a broody hen as “sick”..?

I never refer to a broody hen as sick. In fact they are the very opposite. Broodiness is imo a sign of health.

 

[Shadrach]

Ok. I understand the confusion. It is dunking a sick hen in water that can shock and kill them. It has nothing to do with broodiness. The issue for me is that many times they are sick and hide it from us. There is no way I'm going to risk killing one of my hens in that way.

Also, broody hens tend to have deprived themselves. Who knows if they are more susceptible or not. I can't imagine it is really safe to dunk them.

My keeping circumstances may well produce a different outcome. Very approximately one third by weight of a hens food consumption goes to produce an egg.
All the broody hens here start to increase their daily food intake before they sit. I have tried weighing a couple but the increase in feed consumption doesn't produce a definite increase in body weight over the four days I noticed an increase in food consumption. It's a matter of grams and as such not a reliable indicator.
I've noticed a change in feeding both in quantitiy and selection up to four days before a hen has sat on her clutch. It may start earlier, particularly in feed selection.
The hen knows she is going to sit on her clutch some time before actually sitting. How far in advance is an interesting topic.
She also knows that once she has sat the opportunity for feeding is reduced. Those first few days, not only is her feeding opportunity reduced, but she may also lay eggs for up to three more days. It makes sense to have a store of nutrients above her normal daily requirements.
She also knows that once the chicks have started to hatch she may be confined to the nest for 48 hours of more and once hatching is complete, the vast majority of any food she finds will get fed to the chicks. It makes sense therefor for a hen to try to maintain her feed intake when sitting. In theory at least, if she is not having to divert nutrients to egg making then she can consume one third less than usual and still maintain a healthy body weight.
I have not detected any noticeable reduction in a sitting hens body weight here when sitting on eggs. Granted I make sure that food is available but even in the wild, hens choose their reproduction time partly by season. The spring for example is likely to provide better foraging opportunities than winter.
I have a rough idea of the quantity of feed consumed by a hen on a daily basis.
A not particularly pleasant experiment was to weigh the notorious broody poop. It seems that what comes out in one or two goes is very similar to what went in by weight and that is very similar to what she would consume daily when not broody, but reduced by a little under a third.
It would seem therefore that a hen given a adequate forage/feed is able to maintain her bodyweight and the notion that sitting is hard on a hen and they necessarily lose weight and condition is false.
This makes sense for species survival and can be seen in humans and other creatures.
Pregnant women often eat more and put on weight while they are pregnant. This is a natural response to preparing for feeding the child while having reduced food for herself. Many creatures do this when preparing to raise young.

 

[RoyalChick]

My keeping circumstances may well produce a different outcome. Very approximately one third by weight of a hens food consumption goes to produce an egg.
All the broody hens here start to increase their daily food intake before they sit. I have tried weighing a couple but the increase in feed consumption doesn't produce a definite increase in body weight over the four days I noticed an increase in food consumption. It's a matter of grams and as such not a reliable indicator.
I've noticed a change in feeding both in quantitiy and selection up to four days before a hen has sat on her clutch. It may start earlier, particularly in feed selection.
The hen knows she is going to sit on her clutch some time before actually sitting. How far in advance is an interesting topic.
She also knows that once she has sat the opportunity for feeding is reduced. Those first few days, not only is her feeding opportunity reduced, but she may also lay eggs for up to three more days. It makes sense to have a store of nutrients above her normal daily requirements.
She also knows that once the chicks have started to hatch she may be confined to the nest for 48 hours of more and once hatching is complete, the vast majority of any food she finds will get fed to the chicks. It makes sense therefor for a hen to try to maintain her feed intake when sitting. In theory at least, if she is not having to divert nutrients to egg making then she can consume one third less than usual and still maintain a healthy body weight.
I have not detected any noticeable reduction in a sitting hens body weight here when sitting on eggs. Granted I make sure that food is available but even in the wild, hens choose their reproduction time partly by season. The spring for example is likely to provide better foraging opportunities than winter.
I have a rough idea of the quantity of feed consumed by a hen on a daily basis.
A not particularly pleasant experiment was to weigh the notorious broody poop. It seems that what comes out in one or two goes is very similar to what went in by weight and that is very similar to what she would consume daily when not broody, but reduced by a little under a third.
It would seem therefore that a hen given a adequate forage/feed is able to maintain her bodyweight and the notion that sitting is hard on a hen and they necessarily lose weight and condition is false.
This makes sense for species survival and can be seen in humans and other creatures.
Pregnant women often eat more and put on weight while they are pregnant. This is a natural response to preparing for feeding the child while having reduced food for herself. Many creatures do this when preparing to raise young.

This all makes total sense to me. And I should say at the start that I have zero experience of broody hens. What I don't understand is why on BYC there are so many horror stories about hens wasting away sitting on nests for what sounds like weeks even when there aren't any eggs.
In nature if a bird loses its eggs (eg if a predator takes them) I believe the bird eventually abandons the nest and may even move on to create a new one.
So is all the fuss about broodiness on BYC because today's hens (not @Shadrach 's obviously) are bred to have lost that instinct to move on when a nest isn't viable? Or is it over-anxious chicken-keepers?

 

[Shadrach]

This all makes total sense to me. And I should say at the start that I have zero experience of broody hens. What I don't understand is why on BYC there are so many horror stories about hens wasting away sitting on nests for what sounds like weeks even when there aren't any eggs.
In nature if a bird loses its eggs (eg if a predator takes them) I believe the bird eventually abandons the nest and may even move on to create a new one.
So is all the fuss about broodiness on BYC because today's hens (not @Shadrach 's obviously) are bred to have lost that instinct to move on when a nest isn't viable? Or is it over-anxious chicken-keepers?

It's very hard to say. People are not that great at posting what actually happened. I can think of a number of posts where I have responded to something only to find out a few posts later that the important bits of information had been omitted.
I think some hens have become what I can only describe as institutionalized through breeding and keeping arrangements. I've had hens here that would seem to have lost the instinct to leave the nest once a day. With most, once I've lifted them off their nests and 'woken' them up from their trance a few times, they get the idea.
Breed may be a contributing factor but my belief is the hens here learn from each other. They see broody mums doing what they do much like we have learnt much of our child care from out parents and society. The underlying problem is always the same and that is our perception of the chicken. While we view the chicken as a stupid cuddly fluffy egg making machine things are unlikely to improve.
In most of my articles I've gone against the established view of chicken behavior promoted by sites such as this and others. But, judging by the responses, once people are alerted to certain behaviors they tend to agree that the probability is what I've written is correct. I don't write this to prove I'm right but as an indication that people are not applying general species behaviour to their pets or livestock.
When it comes to backyard broody hens the advice/opinion is much the same. Lock them in a box, feed them like prisoners, play about with the eggs and interfered as much as possible. With any intelligent creature, if you prevent their 'natural' behaviour, eventually they'll stop doing it. This has been proven over and over with zoo animals.
In general, the knowledge level and the advice given is poor.

 

[Shadrach]

While I'm ranting.
How often in all the advice one reads about broodies do you read about the trance a broody goes into? This is such an important point. How on earth do people think a broody manages to sit for 21 days or more semi hovering above her clutch of eggs. Have a go. See how long you can do it for. It's virtually impossible in a fully conscious state. A broody hen goes into a trance like state to achieve this. There would seem to be some mechanism that allows them to partially lock their legs (maybe other parts of their anatomy) but still keep other parts mobile and active enough to turn and arrange their eggs.
If you lift a broody hen off her eggs without any prior interference and place her on the ground she will just stay there in that locked position. Her head will move and if you present her with food, she will eat from that position. But, she is not fully awake for want of a better description. To wake her up she needs to stand. And more often than not once stood she will suddenly jump in the air, flapping her wings and scream. Most people who have observed a broody hen will have seen this. This is the hen fully awake and in battle order.
For a hen to remain healthy she needs to do this every day. They will not feed properly, or bath or even poop properly unless they are awake. I've read lots of posts from the 'educated' here and this stuff just doesn't get mentioned.
It is the same with nest boxes. The usual mantra is dark, quiet, secluded away from other chickens and a box.
I don't put hens in my house nest box in order to take pictures for everyones amusement, out of all the choices they have here (just about every type of nesting site one can imagine) they choose to nest here. Why is that? It has none of the mantra prerequisites. It's busy noisy, open, has no roof.......
I've read, 'oh well Shadrach's chickens are different'. They're not. Thye're just ordinary chickens. What's more other chicken keepers that live here will report much the same as I do on many of the topics I've written about. These chicken cannot all be different!
What is different is the way chickens are viewed and kept. The simple truth is the current USA backyard chicken keeping model from chick acquisition to keeping arrangements is destroying the species natural abilities.

 

[RoyalChick]

While I'm ranting.
How often in all the advice one reads about broodies do you read about the trance a broody goes into? This is such an important point. How on earth do people think a broody manages to sit for 21 days or more semi hovering above her clutch of eggs. Have a go. See how long you can do it for. It's virtually impossible in a fully conscious state. A broody hen goes into a trance like state to achieve this. There would seem to be some mechanism that allows them to partially lock their legs (maybe other parts of their anatomy) but still keep other parts mobile and active enough to turn and arrange their eggs.
If you lift a broody hen off her eggs without any prior interference and place her on the ground she will just stay there in that locked position. Her head will move and if you present her with food, she will eat from that position. But, she is not fully awake for want of a better description. To wake her up she needs to stand. And more often than not once stood she will suddenly jump in the air, flapping her wings and scream. Most people who have observed a broody hen will have seen this. This is the hen fully awake and in battle order.
For a hen to remain healthy she needs to do this every day. They will not feed properly, or bath or even poop properly unless they are awake. I've read lots of posts from the 'educated' here and this stuff just doesn't get mentioned.
It is the same with nest boxes. The usual mantra is dark, quiet, secluded away from other chickens and a box.
I don't put hens in my house nest box in order to take pictures for everyones amusement, out of all the choices they have here (just about every type of nesting site one can imagine) they choose to nest here. Why is that? It has none of the mantra prerequisites. It's busy noisy, open, has no roof.......
I've read, 'oh well Shadrach's chickens are different'. They're not. Thye're just ordinary chickens. What's more other chicken keepers that live here will report much the same as I do on many of the topics I've written about. These chicken cannot all be different!
What is different is the way chickens are viewed and kept. The simple truth is the current USA backyard chicken keeping model from chick acquisition to keeping arrangements is destroying the species natural abilities.

That was quite a rant!
On nesting boxes it makes sense to me that they would choose somewhere they feel safe - either because it is hidden or because they are close to a special friend!
In the Chicken Palace the 3 Princesses have a choice of 6 boxes 3 at ground level near the food so not particularly quiet area and 3 above, one of which has no opening at the front so is very secluded and two that are by a window and day perch so very much out in the open. Of course they also have the whole of the Palace they could choose.
What I noticed is that in the first few days after they moved in - when they were anxious about not being able to go back to their old coop - they chose the secluded hidden nest box. Now they are relaxed living in the Palace they use the more open boxes. They also change their preference every few days. Upstairs, downstairs as they see fit. But they now very rarely go into the really secluded one.
I have also noticed that Diana and Elizabeth are out of there as soon as they have laid an egg whereas Maggie typically sits on the nest for an hour or two after laying an egg and then she gets bored and summons (me?) to escort her back to the run.

 

[BY Bob]

Almost??? You should have.

Mrs BY Bob was not here and it really is a two person job.