stoping a my pekin's broody business

[red rosecomb]

OMG,OMG!What have i done! I got myself a pekin and it imediatly went broody!

Well not imediatly but darn that was quick!! Let me explain, we gave up our pair of sebrights 7 weeks back, they were too flighty. so we decided to replace them with another breed and we saw this beautiful pair of pekins and we just had to have them! I only found out now they are one of the most broody of breeds. We bought them, quarantined them and then introduced them to the flock 2 weeks back.

The P hen started laying 10 days ago and i collected all the eggs,then boom the hen went broody yesterday! And this is too soon for me. Its early summer in South Africa and it can get really hot and I worry about the hens wellfair since it has alot of feathers and is sitting in 1 place for the whole day. I'm used to letting my chickens brood in late winter and early spring since it is warm and cool

So my questions are how can i help my hen to stay coolish during the afternoons, because i do have fertile eggs from a friend. And if i have to ,how can i debroody the hen?

 

[jossanne]

Hi Red! I don't know about keeping her cool, but if you decide to break her broody spell, you need to get her cool underneath. Put her in a wire cage, preferably lifted off the ground, so she gets cool air under her. I've hung mine inside the coop, so they're still with the other chickens, and we don't have the problem of re-integrating her when she's back to normal. It'll take a week or two at the most, I think. Good luck!

Nice to see a South African on here. My hubby lived in Johannesburg as a teenager, and then went back to SA when he was 19 for a couple of years. He was mostly in Cape Town, I think. One of these days, he's going to take me there with him. Can't wait!

 

[Southernbelle]

How hot does it get?

I usually just let my chickens brood when they decide to. I have a hen sitting on eggs right now. It's winter here, she's in an unheated barn when it gets down to 15 degrees at night.