Puffing up feathers- update- Broody- Now what?

[kittykorat]

I already have 8 2 week old welsummers and marans in the brooder.
I know the farm store is getting EEs in at the end of the month... I was hoping to get a couple more anyway... so if she is broody we can give it a try. If it doesn't work than we can relocate the wellies and marans, they will be growing out of the brooder by then anyway.

 

[Kittymomma]

I stuck 4 ee chicks under my BO that had been broody for a week or so. She loves them and whoops up on any or the other hens or roos that even think about looking at "her" babies. Funny thing though is that one of the RIR hens is determined to be the nanny to those chicks and even though her and the BO never really hung out together before the BO lets the RIR sit in the nest box with her and little ones.

Chooks are goofy, but very fun to watch.

 

[Happy Chooks]

My light brahma did the same thing last fall, but she never went fully broody. (she was 9 months old at the time) She would puff up, screech (scared the crud out of me when I went to reach for the egg, my sweet thing turned into a mean puffer fish) at me or if a chicken came in while she was on the nest. She'd be on the nest for 3-4 hours then pop off like nothing ever happened.

So naturally, I was waiting for her to be broody this spring. Nope, I'm still waiting.

 

[kittykorat]

Update 5/10- after a week of this puffed up feathers and chittering at me, Now she is definetely broody. Has been on the box for the last 24hrs, and won't let me take the eggs...

Now what do I do?
Do I leave her there?
The farm store is getting EE chicks in on the 26th. Should I try to sneak a couple under her?
Should I wait until a couple days before and move her and the nestbox to a dog crate?

We don't have a rooster, so her eggs won't hatch...
Will she still jump down to eat/drink?

 

[fiberart57]

Sounds exactly like the behavior my BO, Bunny, has been exhibiting. I've put her in a wire-bottomed cage and hung her up in the coop. I'm due to leave town tomorrow and I hope that 48 hours will do it but I have a Plan B just in case.

Like you, I have no rooster and therefore no fertile eggs. I've heard of people buying fertile eggs at the natural food stores and have some success with hatching; it's a thought that crosses my mind and then quickly I regain my senses and say, "No."

I have read that the best way to break a broody is with a wire-bottom cage. I found a great thread by doing a search with the key words "break" and "broody".

Here's hoping this will work.

Mary

 

[MareeZoCool]

She is pretty! Why not let her raise a few peeps?- It's so entertaining & educational too.

 

[Happy Chooks]

If you don't want her to hatch eggs, but still want chicks, then I'd slip her the EE's on the night of the 26th. Just make sure the babies are day olds. I've read here that if they are too old the hen won't accept them.

 

[Mrs. K]

I tried this last year with great success. I had one go broody, so I got fertilized eggs and moved her. She stayed a week, and then we were gone and she left the nest, but went back to her original nest and was as tight as a tick on 4 egg shaped rocks.

So on about day 21, I brought home some baby chicks. At dark, it was raining and a bit chilly, I slipped down to the hen house. I was a bit leary about getting the chicks under her, cause she would give you a smart peck if you tried to shift her. So I thought I would put each chick (who were bright yellow) on top of her back, and then get brave and lift the hen up, so that hopefully the chicks would get under her.

Never had to, I slipped the first one, on her back, kind of behind the wing, and there was a little movement in the almost dark, and he disappeared. Apparently there is a lot of empty space under a hen. As soon as she felt them moving her cluck changed, and I really thought she would be hoarse by morning.

Now the nesting box was about 2 1/2 feet from the ground, and I was a bit worried about the other hens, and how she was going to get them down. but when I got there in the morning, she had them out in the run, and they were so cute. It was pretty cold out to, and she would call a time out, and every chick would come running, and get a little snuggle warm up time. That night she went in and built a nest on the ground for them.

But when they were only a few weeks old, she would roost on top of the nexting boxes, and she got those chicks up with her every night. I am so praying that one of those chicks will go broody now! But so far nothing. It is the easiest way to raise chicks!

MK

 

[kittykorat]

Mrs K- so you never removed the hen from the other hens, and they did fine?