[wadz81]

Hi, one of my girls has gone broody, and has been so for a week, we keep chucking her off when we get home and yesterday noticed she'd gone bald underneath were she's sitting on her eggs! Is this normal? Is there anything we can do with her apart from shutting her away as she's awful noisy

[cathangirl]

Hello Wadz,
Perfectly normal for a broody to be bald underneath - it is to enable her to keep her eggs warm enough when brooding.
Where were you thinking of shutting her in?  My broodies purred quietly - unless I disturbed  them, when it became a low growl.
Two are now sharing 11 chicks between them.  OH says, "No room for the third broody to have a clutch", so I keep turfing her out so that she feeds, waters and t'other.  IT'S NOT FAIR!  THE OTHER TWO HAVE GOT BABIES!
cathangirl. 

[wadz81]

She will never have babies bless her, he turfs her off but I'm scared of her but don't want to shut her in anywhere. When we turf her out the others give a bit of a peck don't know if it's because they've been busting to pop an egg out.

[cathangirl]

Reasserting their authority Wadz, or maybe jealous that she is broody and they aren't!

Old fashioned idea - and it still works - is to put a broody into a cage with a wire bottom.  Too uncomfey to stay broody in and also draughty on the ol' botty, thus cooling the hen down into submission.

cathangirl