Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[micstrachan]

I used to prevent them from sitting for longer than three days if I didn't want them to hatch chicks. Beat in mind that the majority of the eggs were fertile.
I've read with interest Ribh's experiences with her broodies and she's had quite a lot now. Ribh lets them sit from what I can gather. She's heaves them off their nests to make sure they eat etc but after it's down to them.

I've learned something here and if there was no rooster I would have a few goes at Ribh's approach and see what sorts of results I got.
It's always the same things that are important and they are really improtant.
Get them up and awake every day if they don't do it on their own.
Make sure they eat, drink and bath away from the nest.
Make sure the nest stays clean.

Yup, it's quite a lot of work, but chickens are.

Thanks for your input, Shad. I’ve been taking her off the nest at least twice daily, and she does eat when I do so. However, I have not seen her bathe in a few days.

 

[micstrachan]

@micstrachan :

Shad is right. With the move I had no viable way to break 8 broodies ~ most of whom were nest & egg sharing. They took over the shed nests. I let them sit & just monitored to make sure everyone got off the nest @ least once a day. @MaryJanet does the same. There are videos on this thread & mine of the nut jobs in action. I've found they quit @ about the 21 day mark. No~one noticably lost weight or seemed worse for wear & most of them had 2 or 3 goes over summer. I will have to try for fertile eggs this summer & give the determined ones a chance. Most are easy to handle. I have one Wyandotte bantam who threatened to assinate me any time I came near but she is my glorious exception.

Thanks, Ribh. I do believe I have seen some of your broody videos. I may take this approach… My only hesitation is that one year Little Mill almost starved herself to death during molt. I don’t have to leave home until a little under four weeks from now, so I may just let her sit and make sure she gets off daily.

 

[micstrachan]

I do! Hens go broody, it doesn't matter whether eggs are fertile, and I don't like to interfere with what comes naturally.

I've found a hen who's new to sitting might not get up until day 3 or 4, but she will eventually take the time for all the usual broody behaviours like eating, drinking, pooping and dust bathing. If not, I will get her up on day 5. A hen who knows what she's doing will get up on day 2. When she's up, I steal any eggs she might be sitting on.

I have not found the hens suffer unduly from it. People speak of hens losing condition, but I haven't yet noticed any health costs that have caused me to worry and I'm the kind of person who takes her chickens to the vet for regular checkups! My neighbour has kept hens for a long time and he says a sitting hen won't lose much condition, if any, because they don't need as much energy as they usually do. They eat less than usual because they do less than usual.

One of the hens, Ivy, is now an old hand at brooding and makes her own decision to go back to normal after 23 or 24 days of sitting.

But, if a hen went broody for the first time I would be very watchful and if she got to day 5 without getting up, I would get her up every other day until she learned to do it for herself. The last time I did this was last summer when Peggy got to day 5 and I lifter her off the nest. I only had to do it once or twice before she established a routine of getting up roughly every 24-36 hours.

Also, if a hen had sat all the way through to day 25 or 26, I would support her in transitioning back to her normal behaviour by transferring her to the roost at night until she gave up on her nest.

Thank you, MJ! I’m considering this!

 

[Ribh]

Shutting off her nest box is much gentler than the dog crate method I read of.

Not really. They still go ballistic trying to get back on the nest. Partly it depends on how determined they are. Wrold is impossible to break. She tells me lies; I let her out; she goes broods again. If I persist I just make both of us unhappy. Better to let her get it out of her system. Plus I'd need so many crates if everyone goes broody on me @ once as they did last summer. It was insane!

 

[Ribh]

Hahaha this broody conversation is prophetic, I should have knocked on wood. Just went out to collect eggs and what do I find but a broody pullet savagely resisting me. She has been hiffed out and the coop shut up for the rest of the day. Goodness me, it is quite literally the middle of winter.

I found a Jap sitting on a hidden nest this week too. Middle of winter here too! What was she thinking?

 

[ManueB]

I know nothing about broodies. None of my ex-batts have ever gone broody and Chipie's sitting was the first time I ever saw a hen brood. I love hearing your different ways of doing! I've a few questions though, I'm sorry if they seem really naive. You say it's strange when they go broody in winter. Does that mean it's naturally supposed to be seasonal ( hatching at spring so the chicks don't get cold) ? Or is it just because it's uncomfortable for us to have chicks growing in winter? Also, do your hens go broody if you pick up eggs daily or does it happen because you left the eggs for a few days ? I'm wondering if a hen would go broody if there was only one of her eggs ! Also, @Ribh you mention using crates for the broodies, is that to free the nest boxes for the other hens ? Or to make the broodies more confortable ? Did you leave those in the coop ?
And also if your hens go broody and stop laying, do they start laying again as soon as they stop brooding or do they take the time to get some nutrition back in their body ?
It's really intriguing that they have this behaviour with no rooster around!

I'm puzzling about what I will do when Chipie goes broody again. You may remember I was worried for her because there is not much light in the coop and she sat buried in a corner of the coop behind the door. I wouldn't want to let her brood in this place in winter !

 

[ManueB]

This was a great read. I haven't fully finished it yet but I will. Need coffee...
I'm fairly up-to-speed on pastures and pasture management due to experience with cows/sheep/horses but it's good to get chicken-specific info.
I could only see one place that red clover was referenced specifically rather than just 'clovers' and it was in a quoted section about a specific seed mix to sow with oats and peas, is that the bit you're thinking of?
What I can tell you is different clovers are active during different seasons. White clover is a cool-season legume which is most active in the spring and autumn. Red clover is a summer-active legume that will die back significantly once the weather turns toward winter.
It's good to have a wide mix of legume species so you'll always have something available.

That was my thought when reading the article - we get a lot of clover up to mid may but none at all throughout the following months!
I would like to seed our chicken zone next year but we are very, very wary of invasive specie, which makes my partner hesitate. We have a huge problem with oxalis which we brought in ourselves, probably in seeds we bought or potted soil. The alternative to alfafa mentioned in the article, sericea lespedeza, is a also considered a very invasive specie. We have grass pea and Arabian pea which are native here so maybe we could seed those, but I'm not sure how nutritious they are for chicken.

 

[Ribh]

I know nothing about broodies. None of my ex-batts have ever gone broody and Chipie's sitting was the first time I ever saw a hen brood. I love hearing your different ways of doing! I've a few questions though, I'm sorry if they seem really naive. You say it's strange when they go broody in winter. Does that mean it's naturally supposed to be seasonal ( hatching at spring so the chicks don't get cold) ? Or is it just because it's uncomfortable for us to have chicks growing in winter? Also, do your hens go broody if you pick up eggs daily or does it happen because you left the eggs for a few days ? I'm wondering if a hen would go broody if there was only one of her eggs ! Also, @Ribh you mention using crates for the broodies, is that to free the nest boxes for the other hens ? Or to make the broodies more confortable ? Did you leave those in the coop ?
And also if your hens go broody and stop laying, do they start laying again as soon as they stop brooding or do they take the time to get some nutrition back in their body ?
It's really intriguing that they have this behaviour with no rooster around!

I'm puzzling about what I will do when Chipie goes broody again. You may remember I was worried for her because there is not much light in the coop and she sat buried in a corner of the coop behind the door. I wouldn't want to let her brood in this place in winter !

Ok, I'm not the world expert on broodiness ~ I just have a lot of broody types @ my place. Typically my hens will go broody as the weather warms up. Why? Well for one thing there is heaps of natural food around. For another a broody generates extra body heat to incubate the eggs & warmer weather aides with that. Apparently there is a hormone releases as the days lengthen & there is more sunlight around that predisposes them to broodiness. It's also peak egg laying season.

Eggs or no eggs makes no difference to broodiness here. I collect the eggs from under broody hens daily. I will look for the video doing that though I have posted it before. It takes a broody a bit to come back on the lay after they break. Not much use here as most of mine go broody again before they start laying again so I have to really keep an eye on the ones that do that to be sure they stay healthy. I get almost no eggs from them all summer as a result.

Crates are used to break a broody. I've never used crates so have no experience with how that actually works. I have no idea why 1 of mine tried to sit just now. Our days are lengthening & it's not particularly cold ~ but then it's not that warm either.

 

[Perris]

I know nothing about broodies. None of my ex-batts have ever gone broody and Chipie's sitting was the first time I ever saw a hen brood. I love hearing your different ways of doing! I've a few questions though, I'm sorry if they seem really naive. You say it's strange when they go broody in winter. Does that mean it's naturally supposed to be seasonal ( hatching at spring so the chicks don't get cold) ? Or is it just because it's uncomfortable for us to have chicks growing in winter? Also, do your hens go broody if you pick up eggs daily or does it happen because you left the eggs for a few days ? I'm wondering if a hen would go broody if there was only one of her eggs ! Also, @Ribh you mention using crates for the broodies, is that to free the nest boxes for the other hens ? Or to make the broodies more confortable ? Did you leave those in the coop ?
And also if your hens go broody and stop laying, do they start laying again as soon as they stop brooding or do they take the time to get some nutrition back in their body ?
It's really intriguing that they have this behaviour with no rooster around!

I'm puzzling about what I will do when Chipie goes broody again. You may remember I was worried for her because there is not much light in the coop and she sat buried in a corner of the coop behind the door. I wouldn't want to let her brood in this place in winter !

My answers are 1) yes, seasonal like wild birds. If they brood too early there's not much or as much food around for the chicks when they hatch as there would be late spring/early summer. 2) it varies; some hens go broody when they've barely grown up - Paprika, for example, others - like my Venka, who's 5 and who should have the genes for it given she's a Swedish Flower - have never gone broody. 3) crates are for breaking broodies; a dog crate serves as a temporary gaol with good air flow and nowhere comfortable to nest. I used to put mine under a tree but now I have it by the front door, shady and protected from rain. 4) it usually takes a month or so for them to start laying again. It's about hormones not nutrition.

 

[Ribh]

@ManueB
Here are some of this summer's broodies being nutty.
There was a row over the available boxes but that didn't stop anyone.