Broody Bantams

[Jac]

Hi folks,

Looking for a bit of advice. Two of my Pekin Bantams are regularly broody (as I'm sure you are aware, they are known for it!) and it usually works out at roughly two weeks on/two weeks off laying.

However, this time, their first broody session of the year, one has been in the coop for 5 weeks and the other 4 and for the life of me I can't change their minds. I have tried dunking them in cold water (on a warm day) which has sometimes worked in the past but no joy. I have shut them out for hours on end when I've been around but again, this hasn't worked. I have also tried putting them in the nesting boxes of my other small coop which I use for introducing newbies but they won't stay in there.

I do make sure they come out every day for ablutions and sustenance but it's preventing the others getting in to lay and surely this amount of time cooped up can't be good for them?

Does anyone have any other ideas?

[Grannyof4]

Desperate measures. Can you separate them off from the others, so it doesn't disrupt those laying. Put them in a completely separate house and run. It is a case of making life uncomfortable but not harmful. Pack of frozen veg in the nesting box. Even more drastic is a cage large enough for the hen and water and food but no bedding, try for 2 or 3 days, then let them out and see if they still head for the main house.

[Jac]

Hi,

Thank you for your reply. Yes, I've heard of the cage thing before but I don't have one and didn't want the extra expense at the moment (massive vet bill this week). I could possibly put them in a pet carrier in the coop overnight? Not sure if that would work. Or I can put them in the other coop and run for a few days and see how it goes and I have some plastic ice cubes which I could put in the nesting boxes. One of them never roosts so sleeps in a nesting box or on the floor of the coop so I generally put straw down to keep them warm and comfortable. Should I remove that? It's very chilly here at the moment.

[Mo]

I think the idea of the cage is that it has a mesh floor to let air circulate under them to cool them. I wonder if you could improvise some sort of grid (barbeque / grill pan if strong enough) on bricks, in the nest.
If you put them in the other coop and run you can shut them out in the daytime without stopping the others laying. Even if they plonk down by the pophole waiting to get in.

Or get some fertile eggs - but with 2 broody at once that might be a problem if they both hatch chicks. Unless you have 3 coops/runs.

[kitla]

I used to put a freeze pack wrapped in teatowel under my broody, she would eventually give up but whether my efforts made it happen sooner I have no idea. So many of my hens go broody now I've given up the fight & leave them to sit. I make sure they come off the nests a couple of times a day & I put them all to bed in the coop at night. I also put nutridops in the water to help their condition. When my 1 remaining laying hen was complaining, wanting to lay her egg, I added another temporary nestbox but she always chooses to squash up with a broody & give her the egg. Some stay broody for a couple of weeks, some for 3 or 4, Bonny my brahma sometimes sits for the whole summer! They always snap out of it eventually & soon get back to normal, so I dont worry any more.
I know this isnt the advice you asked for, but it's another angle.

[ChickenCarol]

Reading other's experiences, I am now feeling lucky with my broody girl. Butterscotch is a gold top (half silkie and known for going broody) and is a serial broody. She lays for three weeks then is broody for two weeks and has been like clockwork in the year that I have had her.

During the winter when the other girls weren't laying (it was Butterscotch's first winter) I closed the nest boxes and that would break her of it in about 3 days. Over summer I can't do this so let her be broody but lift her out a couple of times a day.

The odd thing is though, is that although the other nest box is empty, the girls now go and lay in her nest box. I often wonder if there is some sort of telepathy going on so that Butterscotch can have their eggs. It is interesting that someone else has said one of their girls squeezes in with the broody.

[Mo]

I think they have a favourite nest, maybe the darkest one.
Mine certainly seemed to queue up for one of the 3, or squeeze in together.

[Jac]

Hi everyone and thanks for your suggestions. Maisie has always been two weeks on/two weeks off being broody and Millie is much the same. The other two don't go broody at all thank goodness. Yes, I always get the broodies out 2/3 times a day for food and water and a little fuss and then leave them to it for a couple of weeks but felt it was getting rather excessive last time and also Maisie was getting REALLy grumpy and having a go at the other hens.

I tried the plastic ice cubes (which Maisie shuffled up under her wings like eggs!), upside down patty pans and a grill tray with no luck at all so then put Maisie in the small spare coop and run. Two nights and one day and she had snapped out of it. Millie took a bit longer, I think it was five days in the end.

Maisie is now broody again of course..... but I know what to do this time!

[Susan59]

So reassuring to here that others have such persistent broody girls too.

I have tried all the methods suggested, even the crate without bedding, all to no avail. After 4 days and no change I gave in as it felt like I was inflicting battery style conditions.

Sybil just sits in the cat basket under my dining table now until she is ready to resume normal service.

I let nature take its course and top up my egg supply with local free range eggs from the milkman.