Pullet in nesting box all day?

[Lucy4]

Quote:
Funny.. we have two Rosies. My son named one of them.

My chickens are all named after vampires from the Twilight series. Rose, Bella, Esme, Alice. I thought it was funny since chickens are occasionally cannibalistic. My husband just shakes his head though.

 

[darkroo]

Three of my bantams had gone broody before I took action, I saw a post that it can be contagious. I also saw the post about a small wire cage but what I do have is a second run. I moved it over to a dirt area and but food, water and a box in it and covered it with a tarp all but one and locked them in.

Oh they were ticked off big time. After three days I need to get in to change the water and food and I let them out with the other girls. All three ran to the group and joined in on the free range. After about two minutes the last one to go broody (Beeper) started looking at the coop and after a minute more ran over and was trying to find the door

which I closed just in case. I let them run around a little while but Beeper kept going over to the coop trying to get in. I finely opened the door when she got to the nest box I opened it up and grabbed her and put her back on the sand. Tonight will be two more days and I'll give her another try when I get home. The other two seem to be back to normal. Their first night back in the coop I looked in before dusk and Beeker was roosting on the edge of the ramp of terror instead of the nest box which was a great relief.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

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Sure, give it a try. Sometimes that's all it takes for some of my broodies to have their spells broken.

Keep searching for wire rabbit cages &/or parrot cages, they're good for lots of chicken-tending needs including broody busting.

 

[Lucy4]

Thanks.

Yup, still seaching. We're broke right now, or I'd just go buy a new one. But I know stuff like that turns up second-hand eventually...

 

[Sunny Side Up]

We have bulk pick-up every week in my area so I'm always scanning people's discard piles for things I can use for my chickens & in my gardens. Over time I've found several old wire rabbit cages, dog kennels, & bird cages I can use for transporting or holding my chickens. I've also gotten others at yard sales & from FreeCycle. It helps that I'm not picky about rust or bent wires, a lot of folks want to throw their cages away for those reasons.

The thing I use for a Broody Buster is a big parrot cage that rests on a metal stand. I don't know why the folks were throwing it out, it's in great condition.

Happy hunting!

 

[darkroo]

Before I went with the lock down in a separate run I had everyone locked out of the coop durning the day for four days and they just kept walking around the coop all day just waiting to get back in the nest. When I got home last night I let beeper out of lock down and she went out and joined the group. After dark I checked on them in the coop and she was up on the roost trying to get the new girls off of the upper levels. I've been trying to train the silkies to roost with the other birds.

 

[CorralitosSunflower]

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LOL!

 

[Lucy4]

Happily, she seems to be broken of the broodiness. (Did I just jinx myself?) Two and half days kicked out of the coop/pen seemed to do it. She was totally herself this afternoon. Whoo! Let's hope it doesn't start up again anytime soon...

Thanks to everyone for the help.

 

[darkroo]

Bygones did you have her locked out at night also? That could be the difference in what I tried.

 

[gsim]

What I read on the subject says that you have to make them uncomfortable to stop it. I heard one old country boy (Derry Brownfield)who has a daily radio talk show say that when he was a kid if they had a broody hen, they would put her in a potato sack and hang it on the clothesline for the afternoon. He was serious too. I would not try that unless as a last resort tho. And I would never try it in hot weather. The separate cage thing would be my first attempt.