Mildly broody

[EmmaDonovan]

One year old Bielefelder, sitting in next box all day and night, blorped out (pancaked), ticking-clucking, for three days now. She is not aggressive and will allow me to move her and remove eggs. I removed all the artificial eggs.

She will leave the nest box to get treats and I have seen her eating and drinking. I don't think she is feather-plucking.

If I remove her from the nest box at night and put her with the others she spends the night with them, then goes back to the nest box in the morning. If I don't move her she will stay in the nest box all night.

Do I need to put her in broody jail or do they sometimes get over it on their own when they don't have any eggs to hatch?

 

[DobieLover]

She is not mildly broody. She is BROODY.
You need to put her in a breaker. I would start with 3 days/nights. Let her out about 2 hours before roost time after her third day in the clink and see if she roosts. If she does, great. If she doesn't pluck her out of the nest box and put her right back in the breaker for another night/day and try again the next night. Keep going until she roosts.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

Got it! That's what I needed to hear, thank you.

 

[DobieLover]

Got it! That's what I needed to hear, thank you.

Is your broody breaker an elevated all wire dog crate? She needs to be out of nesting material with lots of air circulation around her to help cool off her belly. Sometimes people make the mistake of putting them in a plastic crate and the nesting behavior never breaks because they can still sort of nest on a solid surface.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

Is your broody breaker an elevated all wire dog crate? She needs to be out of nesting material with lots of air circulation around her to help cool off her belly. Sometimes people make the mistake of putting them in a plastic crate and the nesting behavior never breaks because they can still sort of nest on a solid surface.

This is our first broody and I didn't have anything ready. I won't use a plastic tub. We have a wire dog crate that I can set up according to aart's article. It's too late to do it today but I can put it together tomorrow.

It's a large crate (we have big dogs) and won't fit inside the coop. Can she spend her jail time indoors? She won't be able to see the rest of the flock.

 

[DobieLover]

Can she spend her jail time indoors? She won't be able to see the rest of the flock.

That is not ideal as she will have to be reintegrated into the flock and it could cause aggression issues. I suggest that you go ahead and purchase the smallest wire dog crate that you can so that you have it as a tool for managing your flock.
What you could do is bring her inside for the rest of the day and keep her in the crate and then put her on the roost tonight after dark. Then go grab her again in the morning and keep her in the crate until you get a proper broody breaker set up for her tomorrow.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

That is not ideal as she will have to be reintegrated into the flock and it could cause aggression issues. I suggest that you go ahead and purchase the smallest wire dog crate that you can so that you have it as a tool for managing your flock.
What you could do is bring her inside for the rest of the day and keep her in the crate and then put her on the roost tonight after dark. Then go grab her again in the morning and keep her in the crate until you get a proper broody breaker set up for her tomorrow.

I was just looking at smaller crates on Amazon. I can get one here the day after tomorrow. We'll have to do a back and forth until then. At least she's not aggressive and she's used to be handled.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

do they sometimes get over it on their own when they don't have any eggs to hatch?

They neither know nor care whether there are eggs under them. The broody behavior is hormone-driven. It is trance-like, almost robotic.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

They neither know nor care whether there are eggs under them. The broody behavior is hormone-driven. It is trance-like, almost robotic.

I have to say she's very cute. I kind of hate to thwart a normal behavior but she's not laying right now, either. Wish I could give her some eggs to hatch instead.

New smaller crate is on its way.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I have to say she's very cute. I kind of hate to thwart a normal behavior but she's not laying right now, either. Wish I could give her some eggs to hatch instead.

New smaller crate is on its way.

No, they don't lay whole brooding. Nor while raising chicks. Nor while molting afterward. Nor during the following winter, lol. I had some beautiful, sweet BO that laid about 8 eggs every spring and that was about it. Every year for three years. Then they made lovely soups and dumplings, lol. I have 2 girls that just went broody. Rather than fight them about it, I gave them two eggs each. They each hatched out one chick.