Give her fertile eggs or ?

[Chickiemom25]

Why do animals always act fine when you get them into the vet's office? ok I have given up on my Americauna.. Fecal was negative. She acts fine at the Dr office. She is just quiet sullen and refusing to get out of the nesting box or lays as close to it as possible if I block her out. I now have 2 of 3 laying so blocking her is no longer a good solution. mind you Emilio the Americauna laid for 2 weeks before going broody 2 weeks ago ( she doesnt mind being picked up or held even though she wouldnt come close enough to eat out of my hand a few weeks ago). She doesnt feel overly hot and is usually shivering a little. Of course she resumed laying the day she went to the vet and laid on Wed. but not yesterday. I found her sitting on her own egg and one of the other gal's ( I have not identified the hen as both remaining birds will be laying white eggs).

Should I go get her a fertile egg to break this behavior? If I do get her a fertile egg, will she protect the chick from the other hens? I would hate to see the PR kill the chick. We collect the eggs daily and she spent 2 weeks sitting on nothing anyway. Advise?

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

It's called adrenaline...it's a fight or flight response. Um....your post title has nothing to do with what your post actually said, by the way...you might get some responses if you match them up better.....

 

[Chickiemom25]

I hit enter accidentally and was editing when you responded.. Sorry

 

[Happy Chooks]

So she's broody and been sitting on the nest day and night for 2 weeks? Why did you take her to the vet?

If she's really broody and not roosting at night - you could give her a few fertile eggs to hatch (which will take 3 weeks of sitting) or you could get a day old chick or 2 to mother and slip them under her at night. My broodies have been fine protecting the babies from other hens, but you still want to watch closely to be sure.

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Aha! Now that makes more sense!!

A few ways to try to break her of being broody are to put her in a wire cage, elevated, so the breeze hits her behind (I have read this method MANY, many times on here, but have never tried it myself) or what I have tried, that has worked for me, is to bathe the broody hen, and then separate her for a few days. I successfully broke a VERY broody, MEAN hen of it twice this way.

The other option, of course, would be to give her some eggs. I wouldn't do just one, because if it doesn't hatch for some reason, you've just wasted three weeks of broodyness. Give her a few, and see what she does. Personally, I usually separate my broodies in large dog crates with their eggs, so they can raise their chicks without me having to worry about them all the time, ALTHOUGH, with my large Faverolles I do let the hens hatch and raise them in the main coop, because I know that I don't have to worry about the other birds hurting them in there....

 

[Chickiemom25]

Took her to the vet because she isnt eating much, losing weight, hates to come out of the box, sits in the box on no eggs, stopped laying, was not agressive or upset to be disturbed in the box and had only been laying for 2 weeks with eggs picked up daily... didnt sound broody to me but hey, this is my first egg layer so what do I know?

I thought it interesting that both her egg and the other hen's eggs were under Emilio tuesday. So I am concluding I was wrong and she is broody. I am however open to ANY other opinion.

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Sounds broody to me. I would make sure to keep food in her nestbox with her, as I have some hens that will NOT leave their nest boxes for anything, and they lose A TON of weight when they hatch. And most of my broodies are perfectly content with me digging around underneath them...only a very few I have ever had are very aggressive when broody.