I Have a Broody!! WOOT!!

[Kittymomma]

I've been waiting and waiting and waiting, and now I finally have one. One of my BR's who tried to brood last year, but broke everytime I moved her--and I had to move her, silly chicken trying to nest out in the field with the coyotes, has a "hidden" nest in the quarantine/growout pen. Perfect I think, I'll just leave it alone and when she decideds to set on them I won't have to mess with her. She's not the one that's setting (yet) though.

Last week I stopped getting pretty blue eggs from Ella the EE, fortunately my lab flushed her off the nest she had hidden along side the driveway. Reba (the lab) could care less about the chickens so didn't chase her when she flew off and Ella came back the next day to lay in the same place. Well she wouldn't get off the nest (only 2 dummy eggs in it) last night so I put 11 eggs in a nest I made for her in an igloo dog house inside a 7x13 kennel and moved her after dark. I covered the opening of the dog house with a towel overnight and when I took it off this morning she was all flatened out over the eggs. She hasn't moved since so I'm pretty sure it worked.

My DH said I should just leave her there because she'd stop setting if I moved her, but I'd rather break the broody then risk the coyotes. Good thing too because the dog went nuts this a.m. when I opened the door and what do you know....a coyote about 15 yards from where Ella's nest was.

After I got done bringing Ella some food and water I almost tripped over one of the BA's--turns out she has a nest stashed in a 20 gallon garbage can that was overturned in the storage shed. She's always been good about laying in the nest boxes so now I'm wondering if she's getting ready to go broody too?.....

 

[Kittymomma]

Well, Ella is still sitting tight 36 hours later. She ate some scrambled eggs that I put right next to her face, but hasn't gotten up to poo yet so I may have to force her off the nest tomorrow. I'm concerned about it, but don't want to mess with her if I don't have to so soon after the big move.

The BR has been on her "hidden nest" for the last 5 hours, seems like she stays a little longer everyday. I noticed an "almost" broody poo the day before Ella decided to sit tight and saw another one last night (not from Ella) when I went to lock the coop up. I wonder if their bodies go thru a little pre-broody prep?

The BA laid another egg in her clutch today too, she's up to 8 now so maybe she'll get in on the action pretty soon too. This is crazy! I've been whining for months that I want a broody and now I have one for sure, one probable, and one possible.

 

[jossanne]

That's exciting! I've got a broody on day 14, and anxiously waiting. I wish I had more, but no one is showing any signs. I'm saving bantam eggs, just in case the other probable girl goes broody. I'll

for you if you

for me!

Good luck!

 

[Kittymomma]

You got it!

 

[JD]

I have a Japanese Black tail that goes broody every 3 months. I move her everytime she get broody from the nest where they lay and put her in a cage and put cold banty and silkie eggs that were no more than 4 days old. She sits on them right away. She is such a good girl!

 

[Kittymomma]

That's great! My DH kept telling me I was going to mess it up and break her by moving her, but I just couldn't leave her out there where she was so vulnerable. It's working out well so far and even if it hadn't I'd still be glad I moved her. We have been having March lion weather here with freezing temps and afternoon hail storms the last couple days so between the weather and the preds she really needed to be moved.

I had to move the BR that is thinking about going broody last year and it broke her, but it was the same kind of thing--just not safe. The big difference there though was I couldn't wait until full dark to move her because her nest was really hard to get to so I moved her at dusk. This time she's stashed her nest in a safe place so if she starts to set I can just leave her along.

Good luck with your broody girls everyone!

 

[JD]

What I did was put a box and some shavings in it in the cage. She started sitting again this past weekend and when we would take her off to collect eggs, she would come back to another nest that had an egg and set on that one. We have about 7 nest boxes in our coop and are getting 8 to 10 eggs a day. We were getting eggs all winter at least 5 to 8 eggs a day. Got a great bunch of girls. I have put her in that cage also to break her where there was only a roosting perch for her with no box of shavings. Thats was during the winter, so the cold cooled her down pretty quick. This happens every three months. Here is a pic of my little pokie with silkie babies she hatched for me in November.

 

[Kittymomma]

She's a pretty girl! Looking very proud of herself in that picture too. I can't wait to see Ella with chicks all around her. She still hasn't gotten off the nest so I'm thinking I might have to give her some encouragement later today if she doesn't do it on her own. I don't want her to make herself sick from no food/water and not having pooped for several days.

 

[JD]

I put food and water in the cage with her. The cage you see in the pic is a old ferret cage and I didn't put her in that one until after they all hatched. She was outside in the coop in another cage. She will get up and get water and food if it's in there with her. Mine feels safer in the cage in the coop while she's hatching. The other hens won't bother her that way.

 

[goldnchocolate]

I moved my RIR, last year, after I decided to put some eggs under her. She was not very happy with the move (to a plastic dog crate) so I blocked her in for the first night. After that she was all set and willing to stay there.

I used to take her off the nest each night and put her near the food and water. She would get a drink, have a bite to eat, do a humungous poop and then head back to her nest.

Just a little heads up for you....her chicks hatched

in 20 days rather than 21. I went out to check on her and had my breath taken away

by the cutest little head peeping out from under her

. After reading more about it it seems that chicks will sometimes hatch a little sooner if a broody is doing the hatching. Good luck with your hen and her babies.