Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: all chook up on August 11, 2007, 22:22
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Hi guys,
So glad to have come across this helpful site. I have 6 hens and have a couple of questions in which i would like someone to answer if possible for me.
1st, One of my hens has now stayed in the coop for most of the day for the past 3 days, first of all i thought she was having trouble laying her egg but have noticed that she sits on the other 3 or 4 that have been laid, could this be her being broody?
2nd, is it ok for the chooks to eat snails as they go mad for these in my garden so much so they chase each over them.
Must say i do try to block out that they have been grazing on snails when i eat the eggs!!
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Hi all chook up welcome to the site :D
Sounds to me like your hens broody.
Think I heard that snails carry lots of parasites, but not 100% sure on that, as long as you have a worming policy in hand then you should be ok, wish I could have got mine to eat the damn things :lol:
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if shes not looking sorry for herself and tells you off if you try and touch her eggs. she's broody.
if you dont have a cockerel and would like to have chicks ive found ebay a good place to get fertile eggs. make sure you check for good feedback and let them settle for 24 hours before slowly swapping the eggs over.
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I thought they had to be a little older to be broody, she's only about 6 months old.
She sits in the nesting box, when we open the lid she puffs out and coo's.
No i dont have a cockerel, at least we dont think so, lol, god i sound naive dont i, lol. it's just 1 or 2 make a right racket but not a cockadoodledoo kind of loudness but similar, would we definatly have a loud knowing cockerel if we had one at this age?
The farm where i bought them sells you fertilised eggs if need be, but what do i do with them? :)
God im sooo grateful for this site, otherwise i'd be driving the poor farmer i bought them off round the twist. :twisted:
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in my opinion you would be better of going to the farmer and asking him all your questions he knows the breed you have and will have all the answears after all he is making money from you so why not ask him he should be more than happy to answear you if not dont buy from him again.
alan
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I am not that experienced with chickens only 6 months but I have learned loads here from the expert advice and tips.
I had a broody (actually she is broody again now)
In my experience if you want her to hatch some eggs, get 6 ( I tried more but she kicked them out) from your local farmer or similar, pop them under and leave her to it, she will know what to do. I tried lifting her for her morning break etc but found it best to let her get on with it and she did a great job. After all its nature and she would do it on her own in the wild.
Good luck
x
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Sounds to me like your hens broody.
Think I heard that snails carry lots of parasites, but not 100% sure on that, as long as you have a worming policy in hand then you should be ok, wish I could have got mine to eat the damn things :lol:
Hi from me too :D
Sounds broody to me. Does she growl at you if you try to disturb her ? Is she sitting like a big feather pancake :lol:
Worms, snails, and slugs can carry gape worm, but it is not very common. My hens do a good job at keeping the slug and snail population down in my garden and have never had a problem, except when digging all the soil out of my pots of hosters while looking for snails and I have to chase them off :roll:
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Yes she does growl and tends to lay flatter when disturbed. I managed to collect 3 eggs today before she noticed they had laid only to find 20 minutes later her gathering 2 eggs and not moving for hours!
So what can i do if i dont want anymore chickens, is being broody a passing phase or will she go mad if she doesnt get a crack :lol: at it?
Will they all go through this?
Thanks for all your replies it is much appreciated. :D
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if you want her to go off being broody stick her in a cool bucket odf water this wil do the job .and take all the eggs away when they are layed dont let her have any to cuddle
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So what can i do if i dont want anymore chickens, is being broody a passing phase or will she go mad if she doesnt get a crack :lol: at it?
Will they all go through this?
You didn't say you had a cockerel ACU. You won't get chicks unless you have :wink:
There are a number of ways to break a broody which we can tell you about, most of which don't work :( She should stop being broody in about 3 weeks, or you can buy some fertile eggs for her to sit on. We have members here who can advise by better than I can if you say what you want to do.
Not all hens become broody and some breeds become broody more easily than others.
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Thanks for the replies.
No i really dont want anymore thanks and of course i know this wouldnt be possible without a cockerel :roll:
I will try the method of cold bucket of water and see how we go :)
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Good luck and wear thick gloves they pack a punch in Broody Mode, I speak from experience :oops: