Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[eeverett]

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I need some wisdom from my pennsylvania peeps. I have an 8 month old bantam mottled cochin that I swear is broody. She is flat as a pancake on the nest and has picked the feathers on her chest and belly out. She often returns to the nest if I take her out. Is this possible this early? Advice on breaking her.

Yes, she definitely can be I would either put her in an elevated wire-bottom cage for a few days (sitting the cage on something as low as a 2x4 should work) or if that doesn't work, putting her in a shallow tub of cool water can bring her body temperature down. Make sure you don't stick her outside immediately after this though, she can freeze.

If you want, you can give her some eggs or chicks. Now would be a good time to hatch a few spring layers. They'd start around April or May.

Thanks chippysmom327. Great advice as always. I really appreciate it. Still new to this hobby. Would love to let her hatch a few but not sure I'm ready for more chicks right now. Need to resist the urge to embrace chicken math but it's super hard to do. Addicting!

 

[troyer]

I need some wisdom from my pennsylvania peeps. I have an 8 month old bantam mottled cochin that I swear is broody. She is flat as a pancake on the nest and has picked the feathers on her chest and belly out. She often returns to the nest if I take her out. Is this possible this early? Advice on breaking her.

Give her about 8 eggs or so and in approximately 3 months she should get over it.

 

[fisherlady]

Give her about 8 eggs or so and in approximately 3 months she should get over it.

So true!

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Hello all from Berks County! Just got done spending some much needed time in the barn shuffling around chickens and getting everything in "winter mode". Took out the automatic waterer for the alpacas and replaced it with the tank...not quite ready to put the heater in it yet and finally divided chicken coop into two sections. Instead of having the partridge cochins on one side of the barn and the gold lace on the other they are each in their own section of the big coop. I was surprised the everything went so smoothly, my roosters Grantham and Branson are so easy going. Then I decided it was time for the two "hatchery" partridge pullets to make the move into the section with  the other partridges, boy was I wrong! They raised a ruckus and got everyone a riled up, so they are back with the gold lace for the moment. I will have to decide weather to keep them or rehome them, which I thought about doing anyway after I got three much nicer pullets. Have not yet decided how to handle the chickens water yet over winter. Last year I left them loose in the barn and they drank from the alpacas heated tank, but right towards the end of water that proved fatal for my absolute favorite blue cochin hen. So that combined with the fact that I am keeping the two varieties separated, leaves me wondering how to handle their water. What does everyone else do?

I use a heated watering bowl too. Do I hear a Downton abbey reference?

Thanks D, I thought so. Knew what i was in for when i got these two little fluffy butts! Not sure I'm ready for more chicks now so I'll leave he be if she doesn't break after 3 days in the broody cage of shame.

Cage of shame! I love it! Going to use that one...

  Give her about 8 eggs or so and in approximately 3 months she should get over it.

So true!

X2!

 

[dheltzel]

Thanks D, I thought so. Knew what i was in for when i got these two little fluffy butts! Not sure I'm ready for more chicks now so I'll leave he be if she doesn't break after 3 days in the broody cage of shame.

If she quits in 3 days, she's not a "real" cochin

I've had other breed hens give up in a few days, but never a cochin or silkie. They also seem to be the only ones that tolerate moving at all. I can break any other broody hen by just giving her a private cage with a nice nest of eggs and telling her I want her to "go be a momma". They never listen, but a broody cochin is next to impossible to dissuade. I think it would take weeks in a "broody breaker" cage to get one of mine to give up. Even then, when I put her back with the others, I bet she's broody again within 24 hours. Change of season is the only thing that makes them lose interest and if yours is broody with these short days, that's not even gonna help you.

Best to just give her some fake eggs or golf balls and let her do her thing. They seem to get an enormous amount of happiness out of setting on eggs, why deprive her?

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Speaking of babies and broodies. I really need to get a picture of little Cookie again with her two babies. They are easily twice the size she is now. They still follow her around, they still come when she calls and she's still playing mamma! Last night, on the roost, she practically disappeared between them and every now and then, one would try to push under her. Yeah, that's not going to work anymore lol. So silly. She was my unbreakable broody (OEGB) that I had to give in to.

 

[Free Feather]

WARNING! Graphic picture!









Okay, so pretty sure she has Blackhead. She is lethargic, not eating, yellowish runny poop, and she just made this big nasty cheese like poop. I brought her in the house, and she is not moving much in the crate at all. Not showing any interest in food, but she wa drinking this morning.

I have dealt with blackhead, and that is not a blackhead crap. It looks and sounds like a lash egg. The runny yellow crap was likely the inside of the egg, and then the shell came out. I have had experience with this also; my hen died from it.

 

[Chaos18]

So here's a quarantine question for those of you in the know. General rule of thumb is to quarantine new birds for at least two weeks and have them 40ft away from other birds (at least I think thats what they say). Here's the question. If you don't have the space to keep birds 40ft apart (lack of clear flat space and my chickens free range) is there still a reason to quarantine new birds?

 

[OneMountainAcres]

So here's a quarantine question for those of you in the know. General rule of thumb is to quarantine new birds for at least two weeks and have them 40ft away from other birds (at least I think thats what they say). Here's the question. If you don't have the space to keep birds 40ft apart (lack of clear flat space and my chickens free range) is there still a reason to quarantine new birds?

Answered in the turkey forum but like I said there, ALWAYS find a way to quarentine new birds. I learned that the hard way last spring.

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

If she quits in 3 days, she's not a "real" cochin
I've had other breed hens give up in a few days, but never a cochin or silkie. They also seem to be the only ones that tolerate moving at all. I can break any other broody hen by just giving her a private cage with a nice nest of eggs and telling her I want her to "go be a momma". They never listen, but a broody cochin is next to impossible to dissuade. I think it would take weeks in a "broody breaker" cage to get one of mine to give up. Even then, when I put her back with the others, I bet she's broody again within 24 hours. Change of season is the only thing that makes them lose interest and if yours is broody with these short days, that's not even gonna help you.

Best to just give her some fake eggs or golf balls and let her do her thing. They seem to get an enormous amount of happiness out of setting on eggs, why deprive her?

Spoken like a true enabler, but I have to agree here. They are the best little mamas and it is so fun to watch. You can always find homes for the chicks if you can't keep them.

Speaking of babies and broodies. I really need to get a picture of little Cookie again with her two babies. They are easily twice the size she is now. They still follow her around, they still come when she calls and she's still playing mamma! Last night, on the roost, she practically disappeared between them and every now and then, one would try to push under her. Yeah, that's not going to work anymore lol. So silly. She was my unbreakable broody (OEGB) that I had to give in to.

I love when they try to sneak under Mamas wings. Would be a great picture...

I have dealt with blackhead, and that is not a blackhead crap. It looks and sounds like a lash egg. The runny yellow crap was likely the inside of the egg, and then the shell came out. I have had experience with this also; my hen died from it.

Eek, never heard of a lash egg. I will try to google it now...