So last week we noticed my gl Wyandotte was acting strange..well we soon discovered she was broody. She has been laying on 2 golf balls. It is probably closer to day5- 6 now...is it too late to get some shipped eggs and set them under her? If so will it seriously mess her up and at that time shall I move her to a dog kennel? ( inside the coop??or somewhere else) Sorry but this is our first time with a broody-she is about 9 months old. TIA!
I think the broody will sit until she sees some results....at least mine have. I make them carry on with the broodiness for at least a week until I know they are serious before I let them have eggs to set. Then I load them up with the eggs from the breeds I want and mark it on the calendar. My second broody (sitting now) started broodiness for a couple of weeks and kept commandeering nests in the coop....I finally gave in and let her set a clutch. She is doing better than the last broody and is now sitting on 9 large eggs. She will hatch them on or around the 21st. The last time I did it this way, the hen actually hatched a couple days past the expected hatch date. You have nothing to lose by experimenting with letting her brood a clutch and see how she does. Good luck! P.S. I just put another determined broody on a batch of 6 last night and will let her round it out with her own eggs, as she is a Black Aussie. So far, she has been broody for a week and a half, but allowed to set for 2 days now....she is doing well and staying on the nest.
Our Cochin was broody for at least 2 weeks before the eggs arrived for her. It wasn't any problem at all. We made sure she was going to sit tight on the nest before I ordered eggs. I did make sure to drag her out every day and feed her some extra protein treats, and she would take a dust bath, stretch, and run back to the nest. That way I knew she was not stressed out or losing too much weight before the 3 week stint with real eggs. Today we have 6, seven week old chicks and she is back to laying eggs and being a regular chicken again. Nature is the best!
No, it is not too late to use the broody. It is best to either break her up or give her eggs to hatch as soon as you make your decision which to go, but she will be OK if you get some eggs for her within a week or so. I'll give you a link on how to move a broody if you wish. Not that you absolutely have to, but it is normally recommended. I'd move her before I put the eggs under her to make sure she settles into the new nest. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=162759 I'll also give yo a link to how a woman in Virginia handles her broodies. Note that she has a lot more room than you probably do so all her methods won't apply to you, but it is a wealth of information. http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/broody-hens-1.html
Awesome! Thanks guys for all the answers! What would I do without this wonderful site?? Gonna check those links out too. THX!
I have a Kraienkoppe who helped two other Krainekoppes raise a chick. Took me about 3 months to get her off being broody, and the chick was killed at around 5 weeks. And she wasn't even the one who sat on the egg.