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Hi all, long time no speak.
My Pekin Bantam Drizzle has got caught in a broody cycle. Essentially we'll notice she's at Stage 1 ("Hmm, I think I might just sit on this nest a bit longer") or stage 2 ("I'm staying here, and if you pick me up I'll go straight back while making weird noises") and put her straight in the broody breaker for a couple of days, letting her out (without access to the nest box) a few times a day with her pen mate (Dotty) for a scratch in the garden, and after 2-4 days she's back to normal and laying like a trooper.
But each time after a few days to a week, she'll start up again. This last time she even went to full Stage 3 ("I'M STAYING HERE AND WILL SCREAM CONSTANTLY IF INTERRUPTED OR MOVED BECAUSE MY BRAIN FUNCTIONS HAVE ALL CEASED APART FROM SITTING ON THAT EMPTY NEST") within a single day, and despite trying just about everything, she's still looking like she'll start up again if I leave her out of the breaker for a couple of days. I'm unable to provide a separate nesting box and keep her and Dotty apart, but I don't think it would matter anyway, as she'd just go broody in the new nest. The problem seems to be the heat combined with one nesting box, combined with some design flaws I've noticed in the Eglu Classic.
As mentioned I've tried just about everything, but the main problem is her brood patch. She's plucked it completely bare (not sure when, never saw any feathers in the garden or the nest) and her two main trigger stimuli at the moment seem to be pressure on the brood patch (of any kind) and seeing the nest box. Despite learning an incredible amount about chicken broodiness from reading a ton of scientific journals, blog entries, and forum posts which I may use to write a proper article at some point, I'm mentally and physically worn out (I imagine she feels the same), and so I think in this instance she needs to just get on with it. I'd obviously rather properly break her (because if she does hatch she will be more likely to go broody in the future and will have reduced egg production), but with this weather and my lack of resources I don't think I can eliminate all the trigger stimuli and keep her laying.
Therefore she's back in the breaker in the garage at the moment. I'm going to let her out fully tonight, and if she starts up again, I'm going to leave her with some fake eggs and then move her and the eggs into a carry case in a pen in the garage and keep the lights off until she accepts it as her new nest and her eggs (then remove the gate on the case so she can go for poops, food & water). At that point, if someone gives me a couple of days notice they can sneak in with me at night, reconstruct the carry case around her, and you can then take her off ready to swap your fertilised eggs under her once she's got used to the new environment. The only conditions are that you keep her in a separate breeding pen away from other chooks at all times, and obviously that you return my little fuzzball when her motherly duties are over (we can discuss when would be the best time).
So, please register interest here if anyone wants a go at hatching some chicks but doesn't have a broody. Bear in mind this is all dependent on her going Stage 3 again after this breaker session, which I'm hoping she doesn't!
My Pekin Bantam Drizzle has got caught in a broody cycle. Essentially we'll notice she's at Stage 1 ("Hmm, I think I might just sit on this nest a bit longer") or stage 2 ("I'm staying here, and if you pick me up I'll go straight back while making weird noises") and put her straight in the broody breaker for a couple of days, letting her out (without access to the nest box) a few times a day with her pen mate (Dotty) for a scratch in the garden, and after 2-4 days she's back to normal and laying like a trooper.
But each time after a few days to a week, she'll start up again. This last time she even went to full Stage 3 ("I'M STAYING HERE AND WILL SCREAM CONSTANTLY IF INTERRUPTED OR MOVED BECAUSE MY BRAIN FUNCTIONS HAVE ALL CEASED APART FROM SITTING ON THAT EMPTY NEST") within a single day, and despite trying just about everything, she's still looking like she'll start up again if I leave her out of the breaker for a couple of days. I'm unable to provide a separate nesting box and keep her and Dotty apart, but I don't think it would matter anyway, as she'd just go broody in the new nest. The problem seems to be the heat combined with one nesting box, combined with some design flaws I've noticed in the Eglu Classic.
As mentioned I've tried just about everything, but the main problem is her brood patch. She's plucked it completely bare (not sure when, never saw any feathers in the garden or the nest) and her two main trigger stimuli at the moment seem to be pressure on the brood patch (of any kind) and seeing the nest box. Despite learning an incredible amount about chicken broodiness from reading a ton of scientific journals, blog entries, and forum posts which I may use to write a proper article at some point, I'm mentally and physically worn out (I imagine she feels the same), and so I think in this instance she needs to just get on with it. I'd obviously rather properly break her (because if she does hatch she will be more likely to go broody in the future and will have reduced egg production), but with this weather and my lack of resources I don't think I can eliminate all the trigger stimuli and keep her laying.
Therefore she's back in the breaker in the garage at the moment. I'm going to let her out fully tonight, and if she starts up again, I'm going to leave her with some fake eggs and then move her and the eggs into a carry case in a pen in the garage and keep the lights off until she accepts it as her new nest and her eggs (then remove the gate on the case so she can go for poops, food & water). At that point, if someone gives me a couple of days notice they can sneak in with me at night, reconstruct the carry case around her, and you can then take her off ready to swap your fertilised eggs under her once she's got used to the new environment. The only conditions are that you keep her in a separate breeding pen away from other chooks at all times, and obviously that you return my little fuzzball when her motherly duties are over (we can discuss when would be the best time).
So, please register interest here if anyone wants a go at hatching some chicks but doesn't have a broody. Bear in mind this is all dependent on her going Stage 3 again after this breaker session, which I'm hoping she doesn't!
