Is leaving a broody chicken ok?

[Isobelm]

Hi All,

I'm a first time chicken owner in Australia and my Australorp, who has only been laying for about 4 weeks, has gone broody. I've seen a lot of topics on how to try and break your chicken out of her broodiness, but I was wondering if it's ok to just let her be until she gets over it?

People have mentioned they don't eat or drink as much when broody, so is it going to cause any bad side effects or should I just let nature take its course? I'm not concerned about egg production as I wasn't expecting her to start laying until after winter anyway!

Any advice would be most welcome!

Bel

 

[sjturner79]

Hi bel, if she does not have a fertile egg to sit on she may not come out of broody ness until it kills her. Some hens will stop brooding form simply being picked up and placed on a perch. Some are dedicated to getting a bun and can be hard to stop. I have roosters so I can just make sure they have a few eggs if they brood.

 

[sjturner79]

If you want to get some fertile eggs for her head over to "six states and that funny little island" and you can ask who else is in act there.

 

[Isobelm]

Goodness! I thought they would be a little more logical than that! Thanks for the tip. I tried closing the nesting box off one night and put her on the roost with the other birds, but she spent quite a bit of time pecking at the wood a sat in front of it before she actually settled down and got on the roost herself, and I found her pecking again first thing in the morning. I felt like such a mean chicken mummy, but maybe it's just tough love!

Thanks for the advice sjturner! I will definitely check out the Aussie thread.