update on broody carmen

[angelat]

hi all,

thanx for your advice. well i have been lifting her out of the nesting box and holding her and tipping her slightly so her beak touches the water feeder, which has made her open her beak to drink, she didn't seem to mind although i felt a bit cruel but rather that than dehydration, i am also keeping small water pot in house at mo, then she quickly runs to the corn and has a peck at that and then cant wait to go back. i rang the farm where i got her from and they suggested when miranda has laid her egg then shut the pop hole so carmen can't get back in (to break the cycle) well done this for a while today but she was up the top of the ramp staring at the pop hole and so so anxious looking to get in, she was so stressed, I couldn't handle it!! so i let her back in and gut instinct tells me to just keep lifting her and putting her to food and water and hopefully it will pass, don't know what will happen when im at work all day though? an more advice anyone?? thanx

[frias]

I've held back on this because I'm sure there are people with more experience and thought someone else would be along to help. However I have tried the 'sin bin' which is a basket or something fairly open where the air can get under the hen to cool her down. Also tried shutting broody out of coop after other hens have laid. I agree this is also stressfull to broody and us. The other ways I have read about is cold water to broody's bum or sitting on ice cubes. Or holding hen at waist height and letting her flutter to the ground (lots of times) The idea with most methods is to cool the hens undercarriage, which you wouldn't think would be warm this time of year anyway. Apparently it's easier to break the cycle when the hen first goes broody as she gets more determined as time goes on. Sorry I can't be of much help as it was easier for me to put broody out in garden for at least 2 hours a day to be sure she ate etc, as I'm home all day.

[Hilary B]

There is a secondary purpose to the 'sin bin' approach. A broody in the nestbox will sometimes prevent the others laying, and even if they are not put off she will often try to sit on whatever eggs they do lay, which doesn't help you to collect clean eggs (and ones that will keep properly. Eggs which have had a broody sitting on them for a couple of hours lose a bit of their shelf-life). I would always isolate a broody for those reasons, but everyone has their own approach.

[angelat]

broody carmen

thanks for the advice. she does feel warm underneath. I got her out this morning before work and put her to the food and drink, she ate a little, still doesnt want to drink, but wet her beak to encourage, then off she went back in, think i will try when i am home to close hole for some off the time and let her in others, surely this broodiness passes in the end!! my sister is going in today to get her out of house. x

[Birdie Wife]

Hi Angela, most broodies will come off the nest for about half an hour every day to poo and have a drink, so I would just let her get on with it if you don't want to break her out of it with a spell in the sin bin as frias suggests. It is a stressful thing for you and the hen but sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind. When I get a broody hen, I usually want to hatch something anyway so I leave her to get her own water (I put it close to the coop so she doesn't have to go far) and I put a handful of corn beside her each morning so she can eat something without having to run the gauntlet of fighting the other hens to get something to eat.

[Nicos]

I read somewhere that you can put them in an open pet carrier- and leave them where they will be exposed to a bit of a draught- so they cool down a bit.

You're probably aware that I have a broody hen sitting on a couple of fertile eggs- and I've only fed her a few raisins each day- but the water and pellets are a couple of feet away. Shes been sitting for 9 days now- and she must be feeding and drinking or she'd be dead by now!

I stopped her from sitting the first time by removing the wooden eggs( to show the youngsters where to lay) and any other egg as soon as it was laid- and kept putting her outside. Once the wooden eggs were removed the others started laying all over the garden- and about half went missing
...couldn't be doing with playing hunt-the -egg and was worried about encouraging rats and foxes to eggs in the garden- so this time I've let her sit.
Fortunately mine are fertile eggs though!
Good luck!!!