Help, I have a broody girl!

[DixieChick85]

Hello everyone,

I sincerely hope I can get some help with this. My 1 1/2 yr old golden comet has been broody (at least I think she is) for a little over 3 weeks. We do not have a rooster,so no hope of these hatching,she growls when I open the coop doors and puffs up big, I have to take her off the nest to push her out the pop door and make her go out to eat and drink,I guess she is getting off to poop. When she gets forced outside she has a very strange clucky noise that she makes and darts eratically around the run until i get done collecting the eggs and then when I am done she runs back in the coop and all is quiet. From what we have seen though she allows the other girls into the nest box,they lay and she sits. We have 6 girls total and 2 nest boxes, my husband removed the one she was in thinking it might break her of it,but she just moved to the other one. I was just wondering what can be done about this,I am scared for her health. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Veer67]

If you want to break her from being broody this link might help, http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/05/broody-breaker-when-hens-mood-to-hatch.html. It's not good for a hen to be broody for too long, once my Buff Orpington almost died from it.

 

[DixieChick85]

Thanks for the link,that's what I'm scared of,I don't want her to die.

 

[DixieChick85]

Wondering if I got her some fertilized eggs would she hatch them,do GC typically make good Mothers? I know it's not what they are bred for,but she continues to get more protective over the nest although the eggs are collected daily.

 

[gryeyes]

Broody hens don't care whose eggs are under them. Two of my hens co-brooded together on a nest, hatching a chick and a duckling. (one of the gals stole a duck egg from where the duck had laid it on the floor of the coop.). Yes, hens steal and carry eggs!

Some broodies will stay on golf balls, trying to hatch them.

I love the Broody Walk, in which they mutter-cluck the entire route they travel to and from the nest. "Who put the waterer so far from the feeder? This better be fresh feed, I am not eating yesterday's crud, it's been picked over by all these worthless pullets. Those girls just lay their eggs and leave, no commitment. Hussies. Nobody better be in my dusting spot, I only have a few minutes to spend there. Somebody messed up this spot. It will have to do. Get away! Go on! This is my spot. Why is the coop so far away? It's too hot to walk this far."

 

[Veer67]

Broody hens don't care whose eggs are under them. Two of my hens co-brooded together on a nest, hatching a chick and a duckling. (one of the gals stole a duck egg from where the duck had laid it on the floor of the coop.). Yes, hens steal and carry eggs!

Some broodies will stay on golf balls, trying to hatch them.

I love the Broody Walk, in which they mutter-cluck the entire route they travel to and from the nest. "Who put the waterer so far from the feeder? This better be fresh feed, I am not eating yesterday's crud, it's been picked over by all these worthless pullets. Those girls just lay their eggs and leave, no commitment. Hussies. Nobody better be in my dusting spot, I only have a few minutes to spend there. Somebody messed up this spot. It will have to do. Get away! Go on! This is my spot. Why is the coop so far away? It's too hot to walk this far."

x2 so true.

 

[mrchicks]

I have two Marans that go broody at the blink of an eye. We keep a wire rabbit cage as a broody buster. They spend two days in lockdown in there with food and water, but no bedding. Then we turn them back out with the other girls and watch. Usually two days does the trick, though they sure pitch one heck of a fit while they are in the Broody Judy Bin.

 

[DixieChick85]

Cool,thanks for that info,that helps. If I do allow her to hatch some chicks , assuming she wants to raise them,how long do they need to stay separated from the rest of the flock? Will it cause pecking order problems? Is there a way to ease this transition?? Is quarantine necessary since they are just chicks?