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Science Forum Index » Agriculture - Poultry Forum » Poultry in a strange mood
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| Steve Newport |
 Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 1:11 pm |
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Don't know if anybody else notices this sort of thing but our chooks
seem to have been in a strange mood recently.
Our one bird won't come out of her coop and makes quiet cooing noises
al the time whilst almost continually puffing up her feathers and the
other three hand around, almost hiding beneath a table in the yard.
They don't seemed stressed (nervous) just rather "withdrawn" - odd
thing to notice in chickens. |
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| Jill |
| Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 2:10 pm |
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Steve Newport wrote:
Quote: Don't know if anybody else notices this sort of thing but our chooks
seem to have been in a strange mood recently.
Our one bird won't come out of her coop and makes quiet cooing noises
al the time whilst almost continually puffing up her feathers
SHE is BROODY !!!!!
<grin>
Break her so she does not starve herself. and gets back to be a happy bunny
again sooner. -- look up broody hens on the group there is lots of advice.
and the
Quote: other three hand around, almost hiding beneath a table in the yard.
Its wet?
Or stormy?
Or they are aiming to go broody too ?
Have they got mites or lice?
Its been a HORRENDOUS year for them and can cause birds to become
anaemic/lethargic.
Quote:
They don't seemed stressed (nervous) just rather "withdrawn" - odd
thing to notice in chickens.
There is SO much food around at this time of year that they do spend much
more time just lazing about.
--
regards
Jill Bowis
Pure bred utility chickens and ducks
Housing; Equipment, Books, Videos, Gifts
Herbaceous; Herb and Alpine nursery
Working Holidays in Scotland
http://www.kintaline.co.uk |
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| Grizzly |
| Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 11:11 am |
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Jill wrote:
Quote: Steve Newport wrote:
Don't know if anybody else notices this sort of thing but our chooks
seem to have been in a strange mood recently.
Our one bird won't come out of her coop and makes quiet cooing noises
al the time whilst almost continually puffing up her feathers
SHE is BROODY !!!!!
grin
Break her so she does not starve herself. and gets back to be a happy bunny
again sooner. -- look up broody hens on the group there is lots of advice.
and the
other three hand around, almost hiding beneath a table in the yard.
Its wet?
Or stormy?
Or they are aiming to go broody too ?
Have they got mites or lice?
Its been a HORRENDOUS year for them and can cause birds to become
anaemic/lethargic.
They don't seemed stressed (nervous) just rather "withdrawn" - odd
thing to notice in chickens.
There is SO much food around at this time of year that they do spend much
more time just lazing about.
Yep, you've got a broody hen. Put some fertile eggs under her and let
her hatch them out. Or close her off from the nest box and make her stay
outside most of the time. |
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| Steve Newport |
| Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 4:53 pm |
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On Tue, 22 May 2007 16:11:25 GMT, Grizzly <NoOne@nowhere.com> wrote:
Quote: Yep, you've got a broody hen. Put some fertile eggs under her and let
her hatch them out. Or close her off from the nest box and make her stay
outside most of the time.
Not saying you are wrong - far from it. However, Katie Thiers
(spelling - sorry too many glasses of water) seemed to give the
impression that you holed them up alone until they "got over it".? |
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| Amy Blankenship |
| Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 5:32 pm |
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"Steve Newport" <steven@newport47.fsnet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:0ep653hsv0172vhu93qh990m342373umo0@4ax.com...
Quote: On Tue, 22 May 2007 16:11:25 GMT, Grizzly <NoOne@nowhere.com> wrote:
Yep, you've got a broody hen. Put some fertile eggs under her and let
her hatch them out. Or close her off from the nest box and make her stay
outside most of the time.
Not saying you are wrong - far from it. However, Katie Thiers
(spelling - sorry too many glasses of water) seemed to give the
impression that you holed them up alone until they "got over it".?
Depends on what you want to do. I took my broody hen and put 6 eggs under
her, 3 of which hatched. I look at it this way--it can take up to 3 weeks
to break up a broody hen. It takes 3 weeks for a clutch of eggs to hatch.
The advantage of breaking up the hen is she will go back to laying
immediately, whereas the hen allowed to hatch out her eggs will take care of
them for a couple of weeks. But then again, you might get extra hens or
some stew from the clutch.
Hope this clarifies;
Amy |
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| Jill |
| Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 2:15 am |
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Steve Newport wrote:
Quote: On Tue, 22 May 2007 16:11:25 GMT, Grizzly <NoOne@nowhere.com> wrote:
Yep, you've got a broody hen. Put some fertile eggs under her and
let her hatch them out. Or close her off from the nest box and make
her stay outside most of the time.
Not saying you are wrong - far from it. However, Katie Thiers
(spelling - sorry too many glasses of water) seemed to give the
impression that you holed them up alone until they "got over it".?
Closing off the nestbox simply means that the other birds cannot get in -
which means a greater likelihood of dirty broken eggs from tehm and she will
simply find the next warm dark place to continue.
To break a broody put her in something like a wire dog carrier with no
bedding, fresh food adn water and somewhere just a little draughty so she
cannot get cosy. A garage is usually ideal.
Leave her in there until she is well and truely off the brood, then leave
her another few days to be sure ;)
[Thear]
--
regards
Jill Bowis
Pure bred utility chickens and ducks
Housing; Equipment, Books, Videos, Gifts
Herbaceous; Herb and Alpine nursery
Working Holidays in Scotland
http://www.kintaline.co.uk |
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| Jill |
| Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 2:18 am |
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Amy Blankenship wrote:
Quote: I look at it this way--it can take up
to 3 weeks to break up a broody hen.
It only takes a few days to a week if caught early
If it takes 3 weeks to break her then either the situation is not set up
well enough to get her off the brood or she has been allowed to be broody
for well over a week.
Quote: It takes 3 weeks for a clutch
of eggs to hatch.
And requires planning to know what you are doing with the youngstock. FAR
too many birds are being produced that no-one wants.
- housing
- feeding
- space on range
- culling the cockerels
- finding homes for the hens
--
regards
Jill Bowis
Pure bred utility chickens and ducks
Housing; Equipment, Books, Videos, Gifts
Herbaceous; Herb and Alpine nursery
Working Holidays in Scotland
http://www.kintaline.co.uk |
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| Mary Fisher |
| Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 2:24 pm |
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"Jill" <news@NOSPAMkintaline.co.uk> wrote in message
news:4653ea1a$0$8748$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader02.plus.net...
Quote: Amy Blankenship wrote:
I look at it this way--it can take up
to 3 weeks to break up a broody hen.
It only takes a few days to a week if caught early
It's never taken us more than a couple of days.
We just turf the broody out, on rare occasions we've shut her in a run with
no access to the coop.
Never got round to making a dedicated sin bin :-(
Mary |
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