I sent my 3 BO to be processed last month. I'd call them "spent" bc all they ever wanted to do was go broody, but they've been like that pretty much from their first season. In fact, they all hatched out chicks that year. They tried again last year, but I kept breaking them ... and this year, I just gave up on them after several repeats. I'd be surprised if I got two dozen eggs out of any of them over their entire lives. I have ten BA coming up to POL and those BO were hogging the nests! Sweet girls, but what are you gonna do? I admit to taking the easy way out by paying someone else to "do the deed" for me, but my Mennonite neighbor is far more qualified to do it quickly and humanely than I ever will. I'd botch the job for sure, and I don't want any of my birds to suffer.
I’m getting crazy sometimes with all the abbreviations over here.
Sorry, no. POL is Point of Lay. BO is Buff Orpingtons. BA is Black Australorps. My little Black Australorp pullets are 20 weeks old, right at Point of Lay, just about ready to start gifting me with beautiful brown eggs, and those Buff Orps wouldn't get out of the nests, haha! Your turn what is BLM? I took them off the nests, gave them a cool bath in a tub of water, then put them in a separate run where they could not get back to the nests for several days. That worked for about a week but then they would be right back to setting on the golf balls!
Sorry, no. POL is Point of Lay. BO is Buff Orpingtons. BA is Black Australorps. My little Black Australorp pullets are 20 weeks old, right at Point of Lay, just about ready to start gifting me with beautiful brown eggs, and those Buff Orps wouldn't get out of the nests, haha! Your turn what is BLM? I took them off the nests, gave them a cool bath in a tub of water, then put them in a separate run where they could not get back to the nests for several days. That worked for about a week but then they would be right back to setting on the golf balls!
Edit, golf balls, not gold balls!
There is nothing wrong with sending them off to get processed instead of doing it yourself. DH grew up raising and butchering chickens, so we just do it ourselves. If it were just me trying it, I’d probably send them to someone else as well. Killing them humanely is important.
I prefer home raises chicken to anything you find in the store. I have a broody on a dozen eggs right now and am hoping for some cockerels. My older hens get canned when we process them.
Some birds are just always broody. I had one go broody 3 times one summer. If a person is raising chickens for eggs, a non-productive hen is a waste of time and money.off-topic:
BLM out of context here. Meaning Black lives matter, but Buff lives matter too for me.
Did you ever try the dog-bench method? Put the broody chicken in a wired cage on stones with lots of fresh are underneath. Under a roof. Provide water and food of course. And let her out every day to check if she had enough cold air over her belly? If you find her in a nestbox , pick her up and put her in the cage again.
This method is not mine. But heard this one from people with Orpington an Cochins.
I close the nest box where my bantam is broody in and put the fake egg in another nest box at the other side of the run. And make sure the chickens are all roosted in the evening.
If you want layers for many eggs it is wise to buy breeds that are known for good laying like Leghorns, Barnevelders, or laying hybrids for the industry if you don’t care about the looks or a long life.
