[jinty1911]

Since girls have gone broody I have noticed that they dont do any droppings in the house at night.  They seem to keep it in and then do poops the size of a fist as soon as I get them out in the morning.  Is this normal or could there be something wrong?  :blink:
Jinty

[Spana]

Yep, thats the way they do it and make sure you hold your nose when they 'go' , nothing worse than broody poo

[jinty1911]

Yep it reeaalllyyyy stinks  :blink:
Jinty

[orchardlady]

That's what I call THE POO. If you use one of your broodies either now or in the Spring you need to watch for THE POO. It is a great 'marker'. Put your broodie in her broodie coop and run one night when it's dark with some crock eggs, shut the door until the next morning. Hopefully she will have settled and made a nice little hollow for her new (crock) eggs. If she is looking nice and settled gently put your hand under her and lift her off the eggs and plunk her on the ground of the run. Plunk her from a height of about 18 inches. That sounds a bit cruel but otherwise they tend to just sit on the ground in a broodie stupor. Shut off the eggs from her view. If you feel concerned about the eggs getting chilled (once you have real eggs in there) drape an old towel over them. Allow her to eat, drink and scratch around and watch for THE POO. Once she has done this try to retrieve it as you don't want her to step in it and track it back to the eggs :blink: Open up her house so she can return to the eggs and leave her there in piece. In the cooler Spring months I only get the broodie out once every 24 hours but in the height of Summer twice so she can stretch and at least get a bit more water to drink. This whole exercise session usually takes 15 - 20 minutes and the eggs will be fine.

You must start with crock eggs because you are putting her somewhere she is not used to and needs time to settle. If you put real eggs in with her immediately and it takes a few days for her to settle she may well kick them around in her coop and either break them or sit on some and not others and the whole process will be a messy muddle. You can swop the crock eggs for fertile eggs while she is having her exercise once she is settled. Try to use uneven numbers of eggs as the hen can arrange them better under herself.

I like to sit near the broodie while she has her morning constitution so she gets used to me being near her so that when her chicks hatch you can approach her without panicking her.

I also like to do all this mid morning so that hopefully the chill of the morning has gone and the heat of the day is not upon us.

If you do not have a broodie coop and run you can tether her with a piece of string around her ankle but supervise carefully so she doe not get into a tangle or fall out with another hen passing by.

If at all possible try to settle her in her own box or coop as if she remains with her companions they may lay eggs with her and she will try to tuck them under her. Some of your chosen hatching eggs might get pushes out a bit too much and get chilled and you will have eggs of varying stages of incubation under her. You can get round this a bit by marking your eggs.

Have fun with your hens.

OL

[compostqueen]

That was fascinating    Thanks

[orchardlady]

The other fun but a bit mean thing to do is when you lift her out give a  few vigours strokes (going with the feathers) saying things along the line of "Aren't you just a lovely girl and so sweet tempered" before putting her in the run. You need to stir her up a bit and get her out of her zoned out mood so she can eat and drink. You can almost hear her saying "bog off you" in no uncertain terms. Never be afraid of a broodie...just remember it's a chicken and can do you no real harm. They are delightful but just like a temperamental teenage girl...those who have one will know what I mean. I currently have one and cannot help but laugh at her when she is being stoppy....I'm just sooo annoying That's what you are aiming for with your broodie to irritate her out of her skin so she then gets on and eats and drinks in piece.

[jinty1911]

Thanks Orchardlady.  That was great advice.  The 3 of them are broody at the moment and I have been annoying them every morning when I take them out of house.  We go a walk to other end of garden and every time they try to sit I lift them up and make them stand.  It doesn't take long for them to run off back down garden to find their breakfast.
Jinty

[joyfull]

unlike orchard lady I never use crock eggs with a broody - I move the broody and the fertile eggs in the afternoon to her new quarters (mine run with cockerels all the time so most of our eggs are fertile). I simply hold the broody under 1 arm and then move the eggs a couple at a time letting the broody watch what I am doing - then when all the eggs are in place I simply place the broody with them and let her arrange them how she wants. So far I have not lost a single egg this way nor had any broody pack up sitting.
I do lift my broodies off their eggs twice a day but after about a week of doing this I find they get themselves off to feed, drink and do their very big smelly poohs  .
Other broodies of mine have also taken themselves off and hatched their own eggs in the hedgerows which just goes to show that there is no right or wrong way they will sit and hatch whenever and wherever they can 

[Spana]

Other broodies of mine have also taken themselves off and hatched their own eggs in the hedgerows which just goes to show that there is no right or wrong way they will sit and hatch whenever and wherever they can 

Had a hen walk out of the hay barn  2weeks ago with 15 chicks.  Dont know how she covered so many eggs but they were all strong and perky :happy:

[joyfull]

photos please 

[Spana]

  with pleasure 

[joyfull]

Beautiful, thank you 

[scabs]

Awwwww... Now I'm broody!

[New shoot]

Me too - they are beautiful Spana 

[feelingbroody]

Awwwww... Now I'm broody!

No I'm broody lol fabulous thread and wonderful chicklets