Anyone graft chicks to a broody at 14 days?

[K0k0shka]

You are right to suspect all that sitting may have killed your Orpington (or at least contributed to it significantly). Sitting for months is dangerous. They don't get enough food, water or exercise while sitting, it's very taxing on their health, and some of them can sit indefinitely if you let them.

 

[Saveria]

Yeah, That poor girl would go for months, take maybe a month off or raise some chicks and then go right back. It was terrible. She was a good mom, but you want them to stop hurting themselves.

It is our dark brahma that is broody right now. She is a little better, but she will go for quite some time. We take her off the nest twice a day so she eats, drinks, poops and bathes, but it still can't be good for her.

 

[K0k0shka]

We take her off the nest twice a day so she eats, drinks, poops and bathes, but it still can't be good for her.

It’s not. Pull the bandaid and break her. She’ll get over the crate and will be much better off in the end!

As for grafting chicks before the broody’s due date - totally possible, but it depends on the broody. She has to be really committed (which can be hard to judge, especially with a first timer). My best broody has accepted chicks (3 days old, even!) after sitting for just about a week, but she's crazy and wants babies every year and every month

 

[Saveria]

It’s not. Pull the bandaid and break her. She’ll get over the crate and will be much better off in the end!

As for grafting chicks before the broody’s due date - totally possible, but it depends on the broody. She has to be really committed (which can be hard to judge, especially with a first timer). My best broody has accepted chicks (3 days old, even!) after sitting for just about a week, but she's crazy and wants babies every year and every month

Yeah, some of those girls are chick crazier than we could ever hope to be.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Definitely put your broodies in "broody jail" immediately when you know you aren't going to give them chicks. It may be hard emotionally to watch them pace the cage for a couple days with desperate desire to get back to their eggs, but the longer you let them sit with no intent of letting them hatch, the harder it is on their physical health.

 

[K0k0shka]

I have a more pleasant (for the hen) method of breaking broodies, if the crate is too stressful for you. I have a partition of my run that I use for various needs - introducing/reintroducing chickens, isolating injured chickens, etc. It's just chicken wire stretched across the run, with a gate, so they can see each other. The partition has logs, perches, food and water. So when I have a broody, I hose down the ground in the partition (so she can't make a nest in the run litter and sit on the ground) and put the broody in there. She won't nest on wet ground, and she has perches if she wants to get up off the ground, just nothing resembling a nest that would reinforce the behavior. This is very effective and works in about 3-4 days. I just wish I had something predator-proof that I could add to the partition for the broody to sleep in at night, too, so I wouldn't have to move her to the coop and back out again every day, but for just a few days it's not really a big deal.