Barnevelder is broody again!

[AinaWGSD]

Aww. Is there any way you can put or build like a table under the front and fence off the nest box area to make it safe for chicks? The other girls won't be happy, but if they don't have access to the preferred nest they'll find someplace else to lay.

I also have a pullet, hatched April 29, who's broody  again for the third time!

Limu started laying late October, went broody in November. I don't have a rooster, so I made a broody buster and broke her. Then she went broody again in February and it was way too cold, so back in the broody buster. Then she went broody again just this weekend.
This time is her lucky third time though, we're driving down to pick up hatching eggs from a breeder this afternoon. This morning I have to fence off the area under the poop board and build a new nest box for the rest of the girls.

Good luck with your Nutmeg!

 

[emyancey]

Aww. Is there any way you can put or build like a table under the front and fence off the nest box area to make it safe for chicks? The other girls won't be happy, but if they don't have access to the preferred nest they'll find someplace else to lay.

I also have a pullet, hatched April 29, who's broody  again for the third time! View attachment 4075415Limu started laying late October, went broody in November. I don't have a rooster, so I made a broody buster and broke her. Then she went broody again in February and it was way too cold, so back in the broody buster. Then she went broody again just this weekend.
This time is her lucky third time though, we're driving down to pick up hatching eggs from a breeder this afternoon. This morning I have to fence off the area under the poop board and build a new nest box for the rest of the girls.

Good luck with your Nutmeg!

Limu sounds just like Nutmeg! Her birthday is April 17, 2024. I never have luck finding anyone within a reasonable driving distance to get hatching eggs of breeds I'd like to have. The way the coop is set up, I am going to have to move her nest *sigh Thanks and you too!

 

[Karlkurla Chooks]

No, it’s mounted. She has a bunch of aspen nesting pad stuff in there. She seemed fine this morning. I put the temp stick in there with her and it got down to 25.2 in there and the humidity got up to 70.4 but that was this morning. She hasn’t gotten out yet to eat so or drink or relieve herself.

Oh okay.

She might have left the nest very early in the morning, or maybe is waiting until the afternoon?

 

[Karlkurla Chooks]

There is a mat in there, they’re never on metal on the bottom, and I gave her aspen nesting pads. She ripped up all of the material and made a nest. It’s really small for chicks and if one falls out, it won’t be able to get back to her so I do have to move her to a new nest. She’s also low on the pecking order because she’s always going broody. *sigh. Thank you!!!! She is

Hmmm, coincidentally my Clover is low in the pecking order too, and is the one who has gone broody the most. She seems to be like me - somewhat of an outcast. I wonder if that is why she's my favourite of the flock? When she separated herself from the flock at the time she first started laying eggs, she flew to the patio at the back of my house, over the backyard mesh fence (to lay her eggs on a patio chair). In effect she was coming closer to me. Then after a month she went broody. I gave her fertilised eggs and out hatched Chamomile. I transferred Mama and Baby to their own nursery pen. Over time all the chooks integrated as one flock.

About six months later I removed the fence, so now all the chooks come to the back patio now, and the front porch. But Clover has also gone broody twice this year - instead of the patio chair it was in the shed where they sleep, and then the front porch cupboard which has become the latest community nest.





Interestingly my Chamomile, the Leghorn cross who at present is still a pullet, is at the bottom of the pecking order but since Clover went broody again her confidence has risen a lot!

 

[Karlkurla Chooks]

Aww. Is there any way you can put or build like a table under the front and fence off the nest box area to make it safe for chicks? The other girls won't be happy, but if they don't have access to the preferred nest they'll find someplace else to lay.

I also have a pullet, hatched April 29, who's broody  again for the third time! View attachment 4075415Limu started laying late October, went broody in November. I don't have a rooster, so I made a broody buster and broke her. Then she went broody again in February and it was way too cold, so back in the broody buster. Then she went broody again just this weekend.
This time is her lucky third time though, we're driving down to pick up hatching eggs from a breeder this afternoon. This morning I have to fence off the area under the poop board and build a new nest box for the rest of the girls.

Good luck with your Nutmeg!

Limu is a beauty!

 

[emyancey]

Oh okay.

She might have left the nest very early in the morning, or maybe is waiting until the afternoon?

She was out yesterday morning, so the morning after her first full night in the nesting box. My cameras malfuncitoned so I don't know when she was out during the day at all. I went to put eggs under her after work, and there were three from my other girls she was sitting on, so I assume she did got out and they laid while she was gone and then she got back in. I got her out this morning because she hadn't been out for over 12 hours. I watched her eat and drink and take a HUGE broody poop. Sage went into the box immediately. Nutmeg got back in about an hour and a half later *sigh.

 

[emyancey]

Hmmm, coincidentally my Clover is low in the pecking order too, and is the one who has gone broody the most. She seems to be like me - somewhat of an outcast. I wonder if that is why she's my favourite of the flock? When she separated herself from the flock at the time she first started laying eggs, she flew to the patio at the back of my house, over the backyard mesh fence (to lay her eggs on a patio chair). In effect she was coming closer to me. Then after a month she went broody. I gave her fertilised eggs and out hatched Chamomile. I transferred Mama and Baby to their own nursery pen. Over time all the chooks integrated as one flock.

About six months later I removed the fence, so now all the chooks come to the back patio now, and the front porch. But Clover has also gone broody twice this year - instead of the patio chair it was in the shed where they sleep, and then the front porch cupboard which has become the latest community nest.





Interestingly my Chamomile, the Leghorn cross who at present is still a pullet, is at the bottom of the pecking order but since Clover went broody again her confidence has risen a lot!

That's so sweet! Mine just want that top nesting box or the corner of the coop. Screw the IDENTICAL nesting box! ha. I like the name Chamomile, it fits in with my girls! I'm still nervous about the transfer to the Maternity Wing (aka nursing pen). She vehemently refused to sit in it last week, but I hadn't been letting her stay on her nest. Now that I am letting her stay overnight, I am going to try this weekend to transfer her and the eggs to the pen and see if she'll sit so that I can get the day olds to her. I pulled out the fertile eggs (I have a rooster) and put in ceramic ones.

 

[emyancey]

Nutmeg today! Beautiful little puff ball of mad! Hahaha

 

[Karlkurla Chooks]

That's so sweet! Mine just want that top nesting box or the corner of the coop. Screw the IDENTICAL nesting box! ha. I like the name Chamomile, it fits in with my girls! I'm still nervous about the transfer to the Maternity Wing (aka nursing pen). She vehemently refused to sit in it last week, but I hadn't been letting her stay on her nest. Now that I am letting her stay overnight, I am going to try this weekend to transfer her and the eggs to the pen and see if she'll sit so that I can get the day olds to her. I pulled out the fertile eggs (I have a rooster) and put in ceramic ones.

She should be fine to be transferred to the Maternity Wing.


Here is Clover the first time she was broody, incubating eggs on the patio chair. I love her face so much!:

Chamomile hatched on the patio chair where Clover was. This was the first moment I saw Chamomile. I was such a proud Dad at that moment that I showed ANYONE I met around town the picture! I even had a photo printed of them for my wallet!:

I transferred Mama & Baby to a cardboard box with a small container of water and chick starter crumbles, then built a nursery pen for them. They were okay there for a day.
But the next day Chamomile was already through the fence in the backyard, with her worried mother after her! One of the other chooks took a swipe at Baby Chamomile! As the protective father I placed Chamomile on Clover's back, then picked up Clover and immediately put both of them into the nursery for their own safety!

The transfer was absolutely fine. The mother will go WHEREVER her baby/babies will go.

Video of Mama and Baby in the maternity wing.
https://streamable.com/1gfedk

 

[Karlkurla Chooks]

Nutmeg today! Beautiful little puff ball of mad! Hahaha

Awww she's so cute! I love her feather pattern!