Howdy everyone,
We have been breaking all of our broodies since September using the broody buster method. We do have one determined little Silk (Maple) who is always in "her" nest box. When she isn't broody, she will lay an egg and almost always push it out of the box and onto the floor. When she is broody, she of course wants to just sit on her egg and anyone elses too. My conondrum is this: I had started the broody process and this is day 3 of her being in "jail"... every-time she gets to come out since yesterday, she's out for at least 30 minutes and goes into the run, takes a dust bath, does her chicken duties and then heads back to her nest.
Our intent was to keep breaking everyone until Spring, then let them start setting eggs and selling the ones we aren't keeping. So I decided to start find out where I could get eggs and who would want our extra babies. I started the conversation yesterday locally (thinking the whole process would take longer) and found out that we could actually get her eggs to sit on Feb 16th. No shipping involved, we would just pick up.. and we had a taker for the extra babies.
My problem is this, should I continue breaking her now and hope she wants these eggs? Or continue with breaking her and hope one of our other girls will be broody before those eggs are no longer viable? We don't live close to any major city where it seems the best chance for getting hatching eggs are. It just so happens there is a business trip happening for my husband in February and he could pick up Silkie hatching eggs. We're hoping to get a rooster from this hatch, so we don't have this issue in the future.
One note on her broody spell this time that is different than the other many times with her... she is holding onto her big broody poo's until she's let out of the cage. All the other times, she goes in the cage no matter what size poo, big or small. And no matter how many times she's let out.
So sorry if this is disconnected or confusing, trying to multi-task today! Thanks everybody for your input!
We have been breaking all of our broodies since September using the broody buster method. We do have one determined little Silk (Maple) who is always in "her" nest box. When she isn't broody, she will lay an egg and almost always push it out of the box and onto the floor. When she is broody, she of course wants to just sit on her egg and anyone elses too. My conondrum is this: I had started the broody process and this is day 3 of her being in "jail"... every-time she gets to come out since yesterday, she's out for at least 30 minutes and goes into the run, takes a dust bath, does her chicken duties and then heads back to her nest.
Our intent was to keep breaking everyone until Spring, then let them start setting eggs and selling the ones we aren't keeping. So I decided to start find out where I could get eggs and who would want our extra babies. I started the conversation yesterday locally (thinking the whole process would take longer) and found out that we could actually get her eggs to sit on Feb 16th. No shipping involved, we would just pick up.. and we had a taker for the extra babies.
My problem is this, should I continue breaking her now and hope she wants these eggs? Or continue with breaking her and hope one of our other girls will be broody before those eggs are no longer viable? We don't live close to any major city where it seems the best chance for getting hatching eggs are. It just so happens there is a business trip happening for my husband in February and he could pick up Silkie hatching eggs. We're hoping to get a rooster from this hatch, so we don't have this issue in the future.
One note on her broody spell this time that is different than the other many times with her... she is holding onto her big broody poo's until she's let out of the cage. All the other times, she goes in the cage no matter what size poo, big or small. And no matter how many times she's let out.
So sorry if this is disconnected or confusing, trying to multi-task today! Thanks everybody for your input!
