Hi everyone! I appreciate the thread. I have had a couple broody Sussexes before who successfully hatched and raised chicks. I am counting on a hen raised chick to be a better mum. They are now 6 months, mating and laying.
About the pre-broody signs:
What was noted above was excellent. Super helpful for me and my bag of tricks.thank you!!!
I noticed one more thing when my last went broody. She acted stressed if the others went foraging because she wanted to hang out near the nests, it seems. She didn't go a very far distance from the nest. I felt she was guarding her clutch. On the last day, she hung out all day as usual and did opt to forage in the afternoon when I opened the run and wandered for a bit -but then "ran back" like a maniac, to the nest area, as if there was an imminent danger! I chuckled to myself. The next day, full broody. So I won the bet with my husband.
I suspect I have one playing with the idea of going broody at the moment. Many fake eggs on the nest. I'm going to add more fakes tomorrow so that she has no choice but for it to press on her breastbone as she lays. Now I understand why the golf ball often works better than an egg! Reading that was a great tip! I have eggs in the incubator and I'd love a mama hen to take over in a fortnight.
Other signs are old hens suddenly looking for and laying in a new nest. I noticed that about 3 days ago, here.
Environmentally- Spring came early here in Aus.
The weather is warmer, sunnier and the days are longer. The run gets sun. I've been working on adding in more of the ideal environmental conditions for about 10 days. I keep telling my husband that I can trick her into going broody and he keeps saying I can't. I won last time... so let's see if I can do it again. (In time for these partially incubated eggs!)
About the pre-broody signs:
What was noted above was excellent. Super helpful for me and my bag of tricks.thank you!!!
I noticed one more thing when my last went broody. She acted stressed if the others went foraging because she wanted to hang out near the nests, it seems. She didn't go a very far distance from the nest. I felt she was guarding her clutch. On the last day, she hung out all day as usual and did opt to forage in the afternoon when I opened the run and wandered for a bit -but then "ran back" like a maniac, to the nest area, as if there was an imminent danger! I chuckled to myself. The next day, full broody. So I won the bet with my husband.
I suspect I have one playing with the idea of going broody at the moment. Many fake eggs on the nest. I'm going to add more fakes tomorrow so that she has no choice but for it to press on her breastbone as she lays. Now I understand why the golf ball often works better than an egg! Reading that was a great tip! I have eggs in the incubator and I'd love a mama hen to take over in a fortnight.
Other signs are old hens suddenly looking for and laying in a new nest. I noticed that about 3 days ago, here.
Environmentally- Spring came early here in Aus.
The weather is warmer, sunnier and the days are longer. The run gets sun. I've been working on adding in more of the ideal environmental conditions for about 10 days. I keep telling my husband that I can trick her into going broody and he keeps saying I can't. I won last time... so let's see if I can do it again. (In time for these partially incubated eggs!)
yay!! Lots of babies coming her way because (this is ridiculous) but I found 100% fertility in all the eggs I set when I looked yesterday.
