Is she going broody??

[Rachel'sFlock]

Oh, and wondering, too, kittymomma, how long after she doesn't want to sit anymore, before she will go back to laying again?
thanks bunches!!!

 

[Kittymomma]

The cage can be in the coop if you have room--actually that is best because the other chooks still see her all the time and won't be so mean to her when she's back to running around with them. As far as when she starts laying again, that varies from hen to hen and with the season. Some will start back up in a few days, others will take a couple of weeks. Mostly mine have started laying again in 3-10 days, but so many slow down anyhow this time of year with the lack of daylight hours that it's hard to say for sure.

 

[Rachel'sFlock]

ok, kittymomma, sorry to be a plague, but I really need to figure something out for her.
Does the cage have to be big enough for her to run about inside of? Or just big enough for her to stand and eat? How do I determine if she is finished being broody? Let her out and see if she makes for the nest boxes? Do I do this once a day? Every day or 2? Or do I leave her in for a few days before I should even try to let her out of broody-jail?
As this is such a broody breed, I need to either get good at this, or get a roo or a steady supply of hatching eggs!
Thank you so much!!!

Brightest Blessings

 

[Kittymomma]

You're not being a plague..

I know how frusterating it is when our girls are being goofy and you don't know what to do.

As long as the cage is big enough that you can put feed/water in there (I use a rabbit feeder that hangs on the cage wire) and she can stand up and move around a bit so she's not sleeping in her poo it will be fine. She's not going to be running around anyhow, she's mostly going to be trying to still sit for a day or three. I take mine out when they stop being all fluffed up and growly. Usually at that point they'll go back to running around with the other chooks, but occasionaly they'll go back to "their" nest. If they do that it's back to broody jail for another couple of days.

I think it will go pretty well for you though since it's not exactly prime time season wise for a broody hens. Also, the only BR that has went broody on me was pretty easy to break though I'm not sure if that's common to the breed or specific to my girl. I broke that one because I let her set eggs once before and she kept starting and stopping so nothing hatched and I wasn't going to put either of us through that again.

 

[Rachel'sFlock]

Oh, that would be awful to have the clutch not work out...
Thank you again for all the advice and compassion.
I have access to a wire cage and if I am not able to coem up with some eggs lickety split, I am going to attempt to convince her it is not time for a family just now.
Thanks again

Brightest Blessings!

PS- sorry I totally hijacked ur thread, ArtsyRobin