[dilsdaisy]

Bit confused .. a newbie Chicken Keeper and Rita our Orpington has gone broody :blink: ( refusing to come off her nest box doing lots of chuntering when we go near , pecking if you move her etc etc ) ...I have a dog cage I can borrow to create a broody cage ,, but my main question is ..as long as she keeps feeding etc do I have to move her into this ? or can I leave her to do her 'thing' ...with have no cockerel or fertilised eggs so obv nothing is going to come of her broodiness.

Not sure what to do ..someone tell me!!!! ( Husband and chief chicken keeper away with work !! )

[Casey76]

Morning

Being broody can be terribly hard on a chicken.  They tend to reduce the amount of food they are eating to 1/5 of normal, and they can lose a lot of weight.  If they don't have a result (i.e chicks) at the end of a cycle, they can continue to sit, resulting in more weightloss.  Obviously when they lose weight to a certain extent they become more susceptible to infections.

If you are around during the day, you may not need a dog cage.  If you can shut the coop up after everyone had layed, to keep Rita out of the nesting areas, you might be able to break her this way.  However if she is persistent (and orpingtons can be very persistent), putting her in a cage for up to a week won't do her any harm (you can buy D or galley cups at a pet shop, so she always has food and water available - just nowhere to nest. 

[pekinpete]

hi dilsdaisy,i would agree with casey76 in putting bird in dog crate, but you need to raise said crate of ground about 12inches  should be ok so as to let air flow underneath as this will help to break bird from sitting.

[dilsdaisy]

thanks .. Rita emerged out of the coop so dived out and shut her out with the others (Betty & Maggie have laid ....presume Rita won't?)...she is being very vocal and stomping around puffed up like a barrage balloon  but is eating all the food and had a good drink ...so will keep them out now til bedtime and see what happens .
Have been and got a dog crate and d cups on stand by too ..will go and pinch some bricks off the husbands 'might come in handy one day' stash behind the shed ready to raise crate off the ground if needed...phew! ..suppose I'd better go and tend to some children now the important stuff is sorted out 

So if she is still broody tomorrow I'll try the crate option ?

Thanks for your help ..I love this forum!!

[dilsdaisy]

okay ..Ritaupdate.. she was shut out of the coop until dusk (when a queue formed by the pophole)but spent the whole time in between eating and drinking marching around like a huge puffball shouting at me or Betty The Brahma (poor Betty) ... as soon as it was bedtime she was straight in and in the only nestbox until Maggie made her move over (Maggie doesn't 'do' roosting! ) ..obviously the situation won't improve overnight so what would you do ?

Do I shut them out again after the eggs have arrived ...usually all done by 11am ?
or
Do I do the broody cage option, in which case do I put her in the run during the day (in the cage) then in coop at night (still in cage)

Thanks

[themagicaltoad1]

I just leave mine to come out of it in their own time now. I make sure I turf them out several times a day so they get something to eat and drink, but I've tried all the other options and nothing worked. It's annoying more than anything because there's no eggs from them for several weeks.

[dilsdaisy]

'magical toad' thanks .... think I may go down that route .. the other two lay by 11 in the morning so do a big turf out for the rest of the day so they are all out ..though if its starts raining this week will have to rethink I suppose ..she is one big grumpy girl though.. have dug out the thick gardening gloves and jumper as anti Rita peck protection  :blink:

[joyfull]

just broke another of mine on Sunday by simply shutting her in the run of a broody ark (so she couldn't get into the house part) and left her there without any eggs, just water and food. She screached away in disgust for the whole of the afternoon (I went out to Grannie Annies) and that was it - no broodiness  .
This was a silkie cross that Caralou gave me cause she was too noisy for neighbours and always broody  

[Colernehens]

Hi,

I am very new to chicken keeping, but we have 3 Orpington ladies and two of them went broody a week apart about 2 weeks ago. With the first one, shutting her out worked a treat, she had some food and water returned the the hen house, saw she couldn't get in and wandered off to find something else to do. (not sure she is the mothering type). The second one, last week, totally different case, she went mad when I shut her out, running round and round the coop, banging on the door with her beck, I tried distraction with a treat and that worked for about a minute and she was right back at the door. So not being one to given in easily, I went and got two egg shells (i had just make a cake) washed them out baked them in the oven for about 10 minutes and then put them where she had been nesting,(I had been told that they think the chick hatched whilst they were away). Then opened the coop door snd she was in like a shot, I could hear her grumbling and stamping, but after an hour she came out, and has been ever fine since. When I looked in the coop she had broken up the shell, so I just removed it, and she laid the next day as normal.
Might be worth trying, could be the gentle return to reality she needs.

[evie2]

One of our black Bantams Poppy decided to go broody last week, she spent the day in one of the nest boxes making a fair old racket when the others went in, so bad neighbours  were complaining

I did the usual, taking her out and removing eggs (she still sat tight with no eggs) but couldn't shut the coop completely as the 5 other hens all lay at different times of the day

Anyway, Poppy and sister Pansy have now gone off to MILs and guess what,  Poppy's not broody any more

[dilsdaisy]

well she has been shut out since about 11 ish this morning and have opened the pophole now as it is starting to rain .... and she went in with the others but isn't doing the whole flat lying down  chuntering in the nest box thing soo maybe? although this could be because Top Girl Maggie is sat in the middle of the box glaring at her .

But liking the sound of the egg shell trick might give that a go as have been instructed by youngest son to make a cake (still at the age where he thinks his Mothers baking is good ..bless him  )

 evie 2 ..sorry to hear you don't have hen friendly neighbours... we are lucky as the lady next door buys our girls mealworms although she doesn't eat eggs she loves the girls (just hope they never move!)

[evie2]

Our neighbour on one side is elderly and not very mobile and he loves watching the antics of the chickens.  The other side say they never hear anything. 

It's the charmers who lock their dog out and let it bark for hours night and day and the  new neighbour who made the complaint

The funny thing is, the dog people don't know it was the new neighbours who put in a complaint about their dog, so their not allowed to let the dog bark now

[jinty1911]

Will have to try the egg shell trick.  My 3 were constantly broody and seemed to take turns each.  It was amazing how they worked out the timing exactly to the day. When Gracie was sick the other 2 went broody at the same time and are just coming out of it now. It will be interesting to see what they do now there are only 2 of them.    Yehaaa Just went to tuck them in and they are both roosting.  When I stroked Cilla she curtsied so maybe will just possibily be able to get them to hatch a few eggs each at the same time after all