Keeping hens and ducks chat.

Happygreen

Our troubled solitary elderly duck (called granny) has decided to occupy another's nest in the hospital wing (eglu). Her eyes have fully recovered and the young rowdies in the duck house don't seem to give her too much trouble atm. I decided to swap the eggs for hens' eggs, just in case! I don't think they will come to anything as she is not sitting regularly, but it gives her something to do and a place to hide. I'll candle them in a few days anyway.

ali-t

How are everyone's hens doing? Can a change in the dynamics of the flock lead to a hen going broody or is it just one of these things? We have a bluebell who has gone broody and just sits growling in the nest box. She is usually a really flighty hen and its the only time we have been able to pet her.


The last few days we have been going out and moving her off the nesting box but the prevalent advice online seems to be to move her to a dog cage with the bottom removed for 3 days or until she lays an egg to cure her of her broodiness. It seems quite cruel to do that but she is wasting away and moulting so looks terrible just now. Not sure which is crueller - letting her starve herself or snapping her out of the broodiness.

Beckyy

One of our girls has been broody on and of lately, she still seems to be laying though. I've been removing her from the nest box periodically to take in the eggs and making sure she comes out to eat/drink. She shook it off for a few days but is back in there now, she comes out first thing for food and a drink then she's away back.

ali-t

yesterday and today I have taken the lid off the nesting box and opened all the pop holes to ensure that the coop is light once the hens have all laid. This seems to be putting her off going in there a bit since it isn't so dark.

Happygreen

I think our oldie hen is getting better, less gasping and her comb is not as blue. Maybe it took that long to heal the damage the gapeworms have done after the medication kicked in. I'm chuffed

edwink

ali-t wrote: »

The last few days we have been going out and moving her off the nesting box but the prevalent advice online seems to be to move her to a dog cage with the bottom removed for 3 days or until she lays an egg to cure her of her broodiness. It seems quite cruel to do that but she is wasting away and moulting so looks terrible just now. Not sure which is crueller - letting her starve herself or snapping her out of the broodiness.

Hi Ali

Sadly the question keeps popping up as you probably already know by now. I had a very broody hen and she was the same every year. I find the dog cage thing difficult so I just kept moving my girl off of the nest and took any eggs away every time one was laid If I saw it that is.

The only thing you can do to keep her going health wise is to offer her food and water whilst she is sitting on the nest. That way she will keep her fluids and nutritional intake up. That is what I did with mine in the end. Also my hens lay mostly in the mornings so after lunchtime I locked their hen hotel door so she could not get back in. She would spend the whole afternoon sulking but as least she got some exercise and fresh air whilst being out. It did mean that we found the odd egg laid in the garden under a bush somewhere because a hen that had not laid in the morning wanted to lay and was locked out.

I have learnt that some breed of hens are more likely to go broody. One of which is a Speckled hen which I had. Not sure of the others but will have a read up on it later. Apparently it is something to do with their hormones that makes them go all broody.

HTH

Edwink x

edwink

Following on from which breeds are the most broodiest in the number 1 spot is the Silkies followed by the Cochins. Those two are the broody queens of the hen world. Next is the Orpington, then the Brahma and finally the Sussex.

Why was my Speckled hen so blooming broody then? :rotfl:Out of all the hens I have ever kept the only breed I have had that went broody year after year was my Speckled girl. She went to hen heaven last year and touch wood none of the others have taken her place. YET!!!!!

Edwink x

ali-t

My broody one is a bluebell

smallholding_antics

We have a spekled broody too. Silkies are by far the best brooders for sitting, that's when you want them to of course Our girls are doing fantastically well and we're getting around 15 eggs a day on and off which are selling like hotcake and keeping us in eggs ourselves. Happy times

Beckyy

edwink wrote: »

Why was my Speckled hen so blooming broody then? :rotfl:Out of all the hens I have ever kept the only breed I have had that went broody year after year was my Speckled girl. She went to hen heaven last year and touch wood none of the others have taken her place. YET!!!!!

Edwink x

Our speckled hen is also the broody one of the flock!