I Guess I Have to Call Her a Serial Broody

[April0617]

Aghhh! I have a hen, that went broody in May. We let her hatch 3 chicks and she abandoned them at 3 weeks old. She’s broody again!

Same here She went to broody jail yesterday. I told her she can't just ditch babies and expect to get more!!

 

[aart]

and she hasn't gone back to the nest yet

still outside.

just love it when they get back with the regular program??!

 

[3KillerBs]

She went to roost tonight.

 

[rosemarythyme]

just love it when they get back with the regular program??!

Yup. Too bad that in about... oh I'll say 5 weeks, she'll be broody again.

 

[Mamatomany123]

I have one of these. She's broody almost every other week. And she's a production bird! I thought they weren't supposed to go broody. I've never let her hatch but am deciding I'll let her try and hatch now. Hopefully it will make her realize that kids are hard

 

[Jenessa_096]

Same here She went to broody jail yesterday. I told her she can't just ditch babies and expect to get more!!

Exactly!!!

 

[April0617]

After 2 nights in Broody jail, I decided to give her a chance last night. She free ranged for a few hours in the afternoon without much buck buck-ing or fluffing up, so I was hopeful. Opened the coop door, she waited until I was safely back in the house and then went straight back to her favorite nest box

 

[Bawkmeow]

I have a stubborn broody (Russett a bantam cochin) always 3 days in the cage. I put her in the first day let her out at 24 hours ran straight for the nesting box. so put her back in. Tried at 48, straight to the box, back in, then last night she was wild in her cage almost throwing herself against the door. she had her water and food turned over. was all wet. I took her out and dried her with a towel, held her for a while so she would clam down, once calm I put her back in. she paced but that is pretty normal for her. This morning there was an egg in with her. I felt sooooo bad. I have only had chickens for 1 year and I had the understanding that they do not lay when they are broody. Was she crazy last night because she needed to lay? was she trying to get to the nesting box to lay? Poor thing. It can not be good if she was trying to hold the egg in. The prior 2 times I took her out of the nesting box she made her velociraptor impression which is her total tell that she is broody. But now I don't know. Any insight would be appreciated. Poor little girl. I feel so bad.

 

[3KillerBs]

I have a stubborn broody (Russett a bantam cochin) always 3 days in the cage. I put her in the first day let her out at 24 hours ran straight for the nesting box. so put her back in. Tried at 48, straight to the box, back in, then last night she was wild in her cage almost throwing herself against the door. she had her water and food turned over. was all wet. I took her out and dried her with a towel, held her for a while so she would clam down, once calm I put her back in. she paced but that is pretty normal for her. This morning there was an egg in with her. I felt sooooo bad. I have only had chickens for 1 year and I had the understanding that they do not lay when they are broody. Was she crazy last night because she needed to lay? was she trying to get to the nesting box to lay? Poor thing. It can not be good if she was trying to hold the egg in. The prior 2 times I took her out of the nesting box she made her velociraptor impression which is her total tell that she is broody. But now I don't know. Any insight would be appreciated. Poor little girl. I feel so bad.

Welcome to BYC.

She may very well have been trying to get to the box to lay.

It can be upsetting to see the broodies upset in their breaker jails, but we have to be firm, knowing that they will damage their health by sitting to no purpose.

On the advice of the experienced people here, I don't even consider letting Cordon out for at least 3 days. I *know* she's safe in there. If she dumps her water or feed I replace it. I *know* she will hurt herself by brooding on nothing so I perform my calm parents handling a toddler tantrum routine and constructively ignore her frantic behavior because I know that in the long run she's better off not being allowed to sit.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Was she crazy last night because she needed to lay? was she trying to get to the nesting box to lay?

Yes usually if I see a broody going nuts it's because they have 1 last egg on the way, and they want to go lay it. I simply have them lay in the brooder. Yes they're upset about it but once the egg is laid they calm right back down (well, as calm as a broody can be).