They've all gone mad! Whole flock broody!

[Canadian Wind]

Waits for @fluffycrow to wake up in Greece and find this thread.

 

[fluffycrow]

Waits for @fluffycrow to wake up in Greece and find this thread.

 

[Chickin Fairy]

I have a bad feeling we're coming in hot behind you! I don't have much h advice except there are differences between partially broody and full on not giving up broody. My EE is the first, my bantam is the later. My EE is just crabby toward everybody else, has pulled feathers out to line her "nest" and sleeps in the nest overnight. But when I remove her from the nest, she doesn't desperately try to return immediately. My bantam has been broody for 4 and a half weeks now (I have her hatching some eggs I put under her at 2 weeks). When I pull her off the nest, she eats frantically, dust bathes frantically, and drinks some water frantically before returning to her nest... frantically.

I have my bantam in a whole seperate coop the other girls can't get to. She has food and water close (I have medicated chick crumbles in there, which are fine for her and the chicks to eat). I haven't noticed her comb going pale, but I moved her when I put eggs under her (under the guise of night). If you can separate 1 or 2 hens you want as mama's to another coop with the chicks, that would help protect the babies.

 

[ManOverBoard]

Thank you

Definitely worried as we had a girl drop dead today for no apparent reason! They're not eating their food hardly like they used to : (

 

[ManOverBoard]

Definitely worried as we had a girl drop dead today for no apparent reason! They're not eating their food hardly like they used to : (

Narrowed it down... Heat stroke. Explains our pale combs too.

 

[morsekathan]

My hens never leave the nest box when they go broody and they don't have eggs to sit on either! Because, as we all know, there is only one "good" nest box, the other hens squish in to lay, but I take the eggs away. So, I can verify that no eggs are needed for a hen to sit and sit and sit. We did put chicks under one hen once (at night) and she was so excited to wake up to babies! Virgin birth - no rooster or even eggs involved! We moved her to a brooder (converted dog house) at bedtime and then tucked the day old chicks under her around midnight. So cute! And she was such a great mom. Unfortunaley, we couldn't allow her to raise chicks again as we are severly limited by our municipality to the number of chickens we can have.

 

[ManOverBoard]

Thank you for replying! I'll look into boxes with doors. I was hoping that just one of them would be broody, as we've got a dozen in the incubator and we're hoping she'd adopt them. But I don't think it would be safe now...

Sounds to me like you need 10 nest boxes with doors and limit one hen to a box. Choose for them. Really I don't know the correct answer. I have 4 - 5 gone broody all at once but I've got 75-80 hens also. I have a problem keeping them from trying to set in rollout nest boxes.

 

[ManOverBoard]

Wow. Mind if I inquire as to breed? That's pretty impressive and (as far as I know) unusual behavior for an entire flock of that size!

Depending on your coop setup and whether or not anyone is still laying, I'd prevent access to the nestbox area and potentially the entire coop. You might choose one to sit, or two if you can get them to settle in different boxes, and then keep the rest outside (but safe) for the rest of the day for 2-4 days. I've had success breaking this way but I also had my broody sleeping on wire overnight to keep her cool/hormones hopefully down.

We've got two buff Orpingtons and 8 black Australorps . Our big buff mamma was first to go followed by one of our Australorps. Id tried blocking it off, but then they started laying eggs in the floor of the coop and I was worried with the circus going on in there that an egg would get cracked and lead to egg eating. I like the separation idea. We've got mid fifties here at night. Do you think it would be too cool for the rest of the flock outside especially as they are missing feathers from our old rooster?

 

[ManOverBoard]

2 buff Orpington and 8 bkack Australorp

What breed are they?

 

[LTAY1946]

Thank you for replying! I'll look into boxes with doors. I was hoping that just one of them would be broody, as we've got a dozen in the incubator and we're hoping she'd adopt them. But I don't think it would be safe now...

You may have to create a door of your own. Even then when they do get out for a daily break they might still all try to get back in one box. I might try and eliminate that one nest they all want and see what they do then.