UGH!!!! Broody Fever has Struck Again!!!!

[lockedhearts]

3, possibly 4 of my Orp hens have gone broody

, not sure on the 4th as she was in the nest box tonight, did not growl at me but was fluffed up. So then I went and checked my others. A Columbian Wyandotte is broody

. Looks like one of my Partridge Cochins is heading that way

. I am afraid to go to my layer pen

, it holds Iris and Hazel, my mixed hens whom are SUPER Broodies! I also set a bator full of eggs, things could get a bit crowded around here in about 3 weeks

 

[hokankai]

Why don't you just break them if you don't want them to be broody? That's what we did the first two times our GLW and BO went broody

 

[lockedhearts]

Quote:
There is no breaking my girls when they make up their minds. I went through this last year. Moved birds, did everything possible. They are all serious about it.

Iris was broody when I got her last year, even moving her to a new place did not break her.

 

[CapricornFarm]

I have a broody silkie, and my light brahma kept laying her eggs in that box, while the silkie was still sitting! Then , when there were so many eggs that the silkie couldn't cover them all, the brahma went broody too. They are jammed together in that one box, even though there are 5 other boxes they could use. They must like the company!

 

[hokankai]

Even the whole wire cage up off the floor thing? I thought that was fail-proof! Haha

I felt sad for Molly (my BO) this round because it's her THIRD time since she started laying in December, so I gave in and gave her some eggs. It worked out because I ordered hatchery chicks that are scheduled to hatch the same day anyway, so if hers don't hatch I'm going to stick the hatchery chicks under her

 

[shelleyd2008]

I don't bother to break mine up either, it's pointless. I did have success with a BR hen last year but she wasn't all that serious anyway. Currently I have 4 broody chicken hens, 3 broody ducks, and my goose is on the nest tonight so I imagine she is broody too

 

[lockedhearts]

Quote:
I counted last year (of course I had a lot more birds then) but I had 62 hens go broody last year, of course some did 2 or 3 times.....

 

[RareBreedFancier]

Wow, I wish some of my girls would go broody, sounds like you had more than your share last year!

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
I counted last year (of course I had a lot more birds then) but I had 62 hens go broody last year, of course some did 2 or 3 times.....

I don't think I even HAD that many hens last year! I think my broody count topped out around 17, they are being slow about it this year.

 

[fatbassetvineyards]

I got back from Spring Break and my friend told me I had mean hens that won't move. Yikes! I just counted 9 eggs under my orpingon and only could see her neighbor had even more. My third one was trying to take over the nest tonight. I guess that is what they call a 'chick' fight? They are already a week into it so breaking them at this point is hard. I usually just carrry one around for a few minutes and after the second she stops sitting. I guess we will see in 2 weeks.