[evie2]

In anticipation of the poot hatching eggs arriving next week, when should I move Star to her brooding pen?

[muntjac]

is she broody? thats all that counts .if she isnt nothing in the world will make her sit except force,, ie shutting her in a broody box with the eggs .keeping it dark for 24 hours usually but not gaurantees the hen will sit.another trick is to put a couple of other eggs in with her .even shop bought ones will do . 48 hours before the eggs arrive from your supplier

[orchardlady]

I would suggest that you move her asap. Ensure that she and her new home is red and other parasite free. Paint the inside of her home with diacrematiouse (awful spelling but hopefully you know what I mean) earth slurry. If possible give her an upturned wedge of damp turf and scoop out a decent sized dish of earth in the middle. Cover with your usual bedding and pop some crock eggs or golf balls in there. Move Star one evening when it is dark, close the door and leave her until late morning the next day. Open up her home and see if she is settling on her crock clutch. Lift her gently out and give her some mixed corn or corn and allow her to drink and poo do not let her back to the crock eggs until she has had a poo, this will ensure she get's into a routine of pooing outside rather than all over her eggs. This 'broody poo' is very rich in aroma so don't worry. I tend to pick it up and dispose of it especially if the broody is in a run that will remain in the same spot for her three weeks of confinement. Clearing it away also stops her stomping in it and tracking it back to the eggs. Try to sit calmly near her and do this twice a day until the 'real' eggs arrive. Allow them at least 24 hours to rest and sit on your kitchen side and then the next day swap them for the crock eggs. Keep the routine up of getting her off her eggs twice a day until she hatches her clutch. If we have a cold spell of weather you can drape a clean piece of towelling over the eggs while she takes her constitutional each day, not forgetting to take the towel off  the eggs before she hops back onto them. By sitting by her she will become used to you being around and will be much less stressed when the chicks arrive and she is rosey about with them.
Orchardlady.

PS she may be a little confused the first few days and want to go back to the main house or where she went broody, gently guide her back to her crock egg clutch and shut her in, she will eventually get the idea that that place is safe and quiet and A OK.
 

[evie2]

Thank you orchardlady, that's very helpful.  She's the least approachable of all the hens, doesn't like being stroked or fussed and is very broody. she rattles like a machine gun when I open the nest box to take the eggs out and the other hens get rattled at too

[joyfull]

I have never used turf for my broodies.
When are your eggs being posted?

[evie2]

They're being posted on Tuesday to avoid the BH weekend so I should get them Thursday.

[joyfull]

then you have to leave them to settle for 24 hours, fingers crossed she stays broody for you (I would sit her on some other eggs in her coop until you can swap them) - move her in the afternoon and then shut her in the dark to settle 

[evie2]

Thanks Joyfull, I'll put a couple of written on eggs under her to keep her happy/broody and cross my fingers too

[hillfooter]

Well you seem to have some pretty comprehensive advice and the only thing I can add is to stress OL's advice on Red Mite.   Broodies attract RM like nothing on earth at this time of year so if possible treat the broody coop with a residual pesticide which will kill them.  I thought I had a RM free coop which had been empty for several months and had been pressure washed and looked clean and was newly treated with Cuprinol yet within the 3 weeks of sitting there were RM in some volume.  By then it was too late to treat and I had to wait till the chx were hatched and could be moved temporarily before I could treat the coop and move the broody and chicks back in.  I use Ficam W (see Bowden & Knights website) and paint with diatomaceious earth (trade name Diatom, or Hemexsan see www.quillproductions.co.uk/insect-fly.../hemexsan-powder-25kg.html - Cached).

0 out of 10 for DE spelling OL 10 out of 10 for self assessment though

HF

[evie2]

We have an unused, new rabbit hutch which Ruby, one of the Ambers has decided to lay in so we're going to use that.

Eils has worked on the empty rabbit hutch all day making sure it was RM free, clean and inviting for Star and her prospective chicks

Then we caught the wayward rabbit, so she's in it with her sister

Tomorrow we start from scratch with, new wood and weld mesh already bought so by this time tomorrow 1 broody Sussex plus 6 (unfertilised) poot eggs should be installed ready and waiting for the fertilised ones to arrive

[evie2]

Yesterday, when I lifted Star up to remove the unfertilised eggs, she had a mega strop and flew up the garden, so I thought, that's it but I decided to put 6 of our unfertilised  poot eggs in the nest box anyway

When we locked them up last night, there she was, happy as larry, sitting there grumbling away, next is the move to the broodie coop

[bantam novice]

Good luck Evie2 

[evie2]

She's still sitting tight on the substitute eggs, so I'm quite hopeful she'll still be the same when the fertile eggs arrive and I'm just over excited about the whole experience

[evie2]

Star is now sitting nice and tight on the hatching eggs

It was a bit of a faff getting the eggs under, someone had to climb into the run and you can all guess who that someone was she was not happy at being moved and rattled so much the other hens came running to see what was up, eventually on the second attempt Ali and Eils transferred the egg and Star sorted them out and settled down, still complaining. And why did my able-bodied children not lift her?  Because she's scary when she rattles 

So apart from feeding, watering, cleaning away that poo, checking for mites and sneaking a peek when she's out eating she'll be left to hatch her chicks

I'm having a nice glass of wine to celebrate  :happy:

 

[bantam novice]

Good Luck