[chickenlady]

My scatty blackrock, bokky seems to be spending ages in the nest box! for the past 2 weeks she goes in last to lay her egg, lays it then spends about 3 hours in there! when i life the hatch on the nest box she puffs up and squeals but when she sees its me she is fine and will even let me take the eggs out from under her!BUT this morning she went in at 8am! and she is still there!? 4 hours!! is she building up to being broody? or is she just a lazy bones and has a little snooze after laying?

Debbie

[Bruced]

Sounds like possibly broody. Does she fluff up or make a weird sort of brrr-ing noise when you try to pick her up?

[joyfull]

Debbie, yes she is definately broody  , looks like you need some more fertile eggies ha ha

[chickenlady]

Debbie, yes she is definately broody  , looks like you need some more fertile eggies ha ha

Hi bruced! yes she does fluff up and make that sort of squealy purr! but soon forgets about it and comes out! she is still there now though! 4 and half hours now! 
and Joyfull i got plenty of fertile eggs in the incy she can have a few of those then half the job is done for her! 
I have noticed that she makes that same wierd noise to the other girls in the run at the moment too!?  Ive not been having to turf her out all day just in the morning! then she spends the rest of the day as normal! so wont trust her just yet!

[LittleRedHen]

Welcome to the bizzarro world of broodies!  Oh yes!  She is definitely broody and settling in for the long run!   :happy:

[chickenlady]

Ok! it has now been 6 and a half hours and she is still in the nest box!  how do i know when she is definately broody? as usually she comes out and just carries on as normal! do i give her a couple of days to see what happens? also she is sitting on all 6 eggs that have been laid today! i dont want to upset her as i think it is fab that she is broody! and have plenty of eggs from the incy to give her if i can trust she wont get bored!
Debbie

[chickenlady]

It is now 9pm and my bokky blackrock has not moved off the nest since 8am this morning! just went and tried to give her some water as she hasnt drunk or eaten since then and got a good hard peck for my trouble! couldnt move her tonight as the little broody house has had a good scrub out and was still wet so will be up at 5am ready ro move her if she is still sitting tight!
I am thinking of giving her some duck eggs to sit on that only went in the incy yesterday (once she has been moved and sat on pot eggs for a few days thankyou joyfull  ) will this be ok there are only 5 of them!  i wasnt expecting to have duck eggs so late in the year as i originally bought them about a month ago from ebay and all 6 were infertile but the seller sent me 6 more the other day free so would seem the ideal option? 
Will she sit for what will probably be 25 days? or should i get her some new eggs? didnt really want any more eggs this year but i think it is so wonderful to see a mummy hen with babies even if they may be ducklings!

Debbie

[joyfull]

She will be fine with 5 and for the duration of 25 days (only 4 more than a hens anyway) as she will be able to feel movement in them so will saty put. Just make sure you have your incy kept at the ready in case she doesn't take to them. Just think when they hatch you won't need the brooder box, lamp or anything - simple 

[chickenlady]

OK!  got up early this morning and set up the broody coop and run away from the main run. Had a peek in the nest box and bokky squealed and fluffed up so quckly picked her up and popped her on the hen house floor where she stayed fluffed and protective i then swiftly took out the eggs she had been sat on and then all the straw from the nest and transferred everything to the little broody house. then picked up bokky and popped her in broody coop, put food (corn) and water within her reach. but i am concerned cause she hasnt done a poop since yesterday morning!? she has settled back on eggs (not fertile) but wondered if i should pop her out again to empty her bowels? or will that just disturb her even more?

Debbie

[joyfull]

Give her time to settle in and then about 2ish (that seemed to be around the time I got mine out anyway) lift her out for a run. I only had water near mine (until the last couple of days) and she ate when I lifted her out. You could tomorrow onwards lift her out in the morning and in the afternoon for a feed and scratch etc, this way it will avoid her pooing on the eggs.

[chickenlady]

Thanks joyfull!  she has settled on eggs again and has been in there for 2 hours now even though the little door to the broody house is open into her little run! (large dog cage) she has stayed put! candled the khaki campbell eggs and all 5 are fertile on day 2 so if she is still there tomorrow should i pop them under her or wait abit longer? also do i do the switch whilst she is on or off the nest? sorry all these questions 

Debbie

[joyfull]

well as she seems settled I would do it today - slowly slide your hand under her and remove one egg then with your other hand replace it with a duck egg. Keep doing this untill all eggs have been replaced. If you do it during the day you can see if she has rejected them and replace them in the incubator. If you do it this morning then this afternoon when you get her out for a run to do her stuff she will be used to those 5 eggs hopefully 

[chickenlady]

Thankyou again!

[chickenlady]

She has been sat tight for 3 days now but she will not come out on her own to eat or poop! (she has water right in front of her) so i have been lifting her out twice a day?
Here is a little pic of her scoffing some corn but fluffing and cackling at the same time  she just wants to get back to her eggies!

Is there anything else i should be doing? im giving her poultry spice in her corn and she has water within reach! i leave the broody box door open during the day, is this ok? or should i keep it shut as she hasnt come out of her own accord yet!

Debbie

[GrannieAnnie]

When our black rock went broody, she was like it for 3 weeks until the lovely Joyfull lent me her pet cage.  I put it in the middle of the chicken run and put rockette in there with some food and water.  Made her stay there all day then back in the house at night.

Did this for a week and she was back to normal, so I thought  I can give the pet cage bck now!  Spoke too soon!  She's back in the nest box today, and has been for most of the day!!!    Grrrrrr   !!!