Advice on my broody please

BabyBantam

BabyBantam

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Mildred is now in complete maniac mode, she refuses to stand up when you remove her from the nest to drop her outside for poo/food and looks to be in for the long haul. Nancy is just plain bored with her antics, so is ignoring her...
2 bits of advise would be appreciated -
Baring in mind Nancy is still laying, should I change their diet or add something to it?? Mildred is definately feeling a little scrawny and they are currently being fed on layers mash/pellets, corn in the evening and water to drink (nothing added).
Should I also lock Mildred out of the nest box at night (as I've been doing), or leave her to it? She's not a happy bunny about it, but seems to be perching all night rather than sitting in the sawdust.
Thanks.
 
If you really want her off broody, you need to put her in a cage with no straw or shavings and preferably with a wire bottom. Protected from the elements of course and with food and water. This will break her and she should be off broody in a few days. No need to change the diet while they are together but if you put her in a cage I'd just give her mixed corn.
If you are not going to put her in a cage, continue to put her out of the nest box as often as possible and continue taking her out at night. She may get the message but it will take longer.
 
If you are not going down the cage route, first thing in the morning you could put Mildred into a 'sin corner' ie a bare, netted-off area of the run, with water and corn rather than pellets as Chuck suggests. Then she will be able to see Nancy having a nice time but won't be so isolated. Release her just before roosting time, having put large flowerpots in the nestboxes, or whatever else you do to block them off. This won't be quite as fast a remedy as the cage way, but it did work for my broody Sussex, though I caught her at the first signs of pending maternity! The idea is to cool the bare brood patch which will have developed on her breast, so a relatively uncomfortable floor is required to let air get to it - nothing to snuggle in. When this happens her hormones should begin to return to normal. Keep it up for a day or two after she seems OK, though, so she doesn't have a relapse!
 
As we have discovered a broody hen is a risk to herself. Left to her own devices she will expend a lot of energy heating up the floor, which weakens her. The last one we had went through the same routine as all the others have. Into a broody run alongside the main run for three days and nights. Trouble is it is too cold outside still and in maintaining the heat necessary she just burned out and died. So at the moment I would follow the advice above and put her in a separate run within or alongside the main run during the day and at night into the coop with all the nest boxes well and truly blocked. If there are any gaps to get in the broody will find them.
 
I've tried dunking them in cold water to cool that broody patch on the breast and moving them to different living quarters 3 or 4 times in succession. This bird was a bantam rhode island red. She was determined. She won out, by the way, because I would rather give her two or three eggs to hatch than to have her waste away for no good reason.
 
Dunking a broody is bad practice and will achieve nothing and in my opinion borders on cruelty ! There is no broody patch on the breast - it's just a breast, nothing changes when they go broody. Most broodies need to be taken out and put in a cage to get them off. Hens do not waste away as long as they come off the nest to eat and drink once a day and care is taken to keep external parasites down. You are the owner and should do what's best for your hens.
 
Thanks for the notes.
Not able to seperate her, but have locked her out of the nest box permenantly and removed her from her perch that she seems to be nesting on as often as I'm able to during the day - can't lock them out of the house due to the weather. She's eating again when she comes down which is good, but not broken the broody yet.
 
Well, after weeks of no broody signs at all, came home today to Mildred on the nest on todays 2 eggs in full broody mode! Obviosly locked her straight out of the box much to her disgust and threw her downstairs, but I'm a little worried.
When I picked her up, she seems a little skinny and her breast bone sticks out more than normal. She's also been laying quite small eggs for a week or so(for a bantam), but her crops been full every night. She seems happy and active with full feather cover, so wondering if it's becuse shes been in the garden all day for the last 2 weeks (time off work) and ignoring the layers pellets.
Any ideas on how to 'feed her up'?
 
We have this problem BB. If we don't keep them in for a few hours in the morning with only pellets available they eat rubbish. They have a full crop of little nutritional value. Not a bad thing for piggy Orpingtons but not good for the rest.
 
Good news then - back at work this week, so mixed them a dish of mash and warm water to encourage them. They will now be 'stuck' in their run most of the day, so mash/pellet consumption should go up.
 
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