Stubborn broody hen picked a bad place and won't move!

[Skink]

I have a house chicken, a Cochin named Pepper. She was an only chick who has been a part of our family since day one. She's given me many eggs, and every last one of those eggs has been dropped in an inconvenient place: my computer chair. I work from home on my PC, specifically as an artist operating a monitor tablet at a particular angle, so being comfortable enough and high off the floor is important. I guess she decided since my butt is planted here so often, it must be a super safe amazing place to plant her own arse and whatever comes out of it.

Today she decided no more eggs. It is time to hunker down and screech like she's returning to her saurian roots until babies happen.

I do not want to break her of her broodiness! I have 18 eggs coming in the mail tomorrow, and my incubator can only fit 12, so her going broody today is kind of a happy accident. It saves me having to start up my crappy homemade 'bator for the excess right away, and I can find out if she will stay on the nest without buying eggs special. I have removed her several times to other nesting options and kept the chair firmly unavailable. All are abandoned right away in favor of circling the chair waiting for me to get up. I planned to ignore her until she picked another place, but as the day has gone on, she has gone from obnoxious to violent and is super distressed. I've never seen her so upset. She REALLY wants chair babies! I have pretty much two options: Surrender my chair, or coop her up. I will try setting her up in a kennel with what she needs and a not-so-chair nest and give her a day or two to see if she calms down. Otherwise, I'll just admit defeat and give her the chair- her happiness is important to me.

What are your broodyzilla stories?

 

[azygous]

Well. I mean, what can I say? Broodies really cannot be reasoned with. Pepper obviously knows what she wants.

About your only hope is that she'll be content to share a chair next to you so you can still get your work done.

You need to take some pictures of your chair broody. Please.

 

[aart]

Too Funny...can't wait to hear the outcome of your advanture.

No stories here but my birds live outside and the only broody I've had so far was promptly and pretty easily broken.

 

[krista74]

I have a broody hen from hell. She was sent directly by Satan to test my patience in a battle of the wills - and she was winning for quite a while there, I must admit. At one point I was fairly sure the only thing the broody buster cage was breaking was ME!

This girl has been relentless in her mission. She first went broody about a month and a half or so ago, and immediately fluffed up to twice her size. When I went into the coop where the nest boxes were located she would be quiet until such time that I turned around to face her. Once I turned around, she would screech at me like a bird possessed!

If I reached in the pat her, she would give me a peck but it didn't really hurt - I think it was more an "I'm miserable as all get-out here - leave me alone" kind of peck, not an "I'm going to kill you" kind of peck! Her screeching could only be relieved if I gave her a long pat and talked baby talk to her, at which point she would make little whiney grizzly sounds at me and slowly de-fluff herself back to her regular size!

After a couple days of this behaviour I looked underneath her and was astonished. She was having imaginary babies! There was not an egg to be seen, and I decided that since I had none to give her I would have to deploy the broody buster cage. 6 long, hard, hot days followed and eventually she went back to her regular self and re-joined the flock.

Until a week ago that is....

There she was, back in her nest, quietly singing to herself and her imaginary babies! I put her back in the broody buster cage, but after day 3 she and a friend held a meeting, and the friend decided to go broody in support of her. Now I had TWO mad broody hens in the buster cage! The two of them sat in the cage in misery together for a further three days, at which point the switch flipped and they were both back to normal. I am now wondering how long it will be until I have her back in there again!

I love the sound of your chair babies! Can you post a pic of Pepper in her 'nest?'

- Krista

 

[aart]

Geeeezzzzz, Hormones!