Wyandotte still broody after 8 weeks !!

[Sue]

If I put dummy eggs under my broody wyandotte as soon as she went broody, would she get fed up when they didn't hatch and give up being broody? Or would she just sit hoping they would hatch? Just trying to think of something different to try with mine who spends more time being broody than not!!!

 

[ncotb]

No, she would still sit & sit. try breaking her asap, can be more successful the sooner you try it. My welsummer banty had gone broody for the 4th time this year & because I started sorting her asap she has now decided shes not broody, but next time will be giving her eggs to hatch.

 

[Marigold]

Marigold is back to spending too much time in the house, after a few weeks of normality and back to laying. I removed her yesterday afternoon to make her go outside when no egg had arrived after 3 hours, picked her up and put her out on the grass with the others. Returned to the run to find a broken egg on the step! It must have popped out and dropped when I was carrying her, good thing it didn't break inside her as the shells are getting quite thin near the end of this lay. I think the best thing would be to nip it in the bud by putting her out in the grass run with my non- laying hen, which worked last time combined with two nights in the sin bin. But if she's still laying I wonder if it's unkind not to give her anywhere to lay her egg. So I agree it's best to break them when you see the first signs, but if shes still laying and presumably trying to build a clutch why does she start sitting? She's looking really tatty too, due for a moult though not shedding feathers yet.

 

[Dobby]

Hi Marigold I too was concerned because my girl was laying before I decided to crate her but I knew she was broody annd went with it, I kept her out of the box, wherever possible and I left her to her routine. Ive seen them lay before now outside of their nestbox so I figured if she needs to lay she will wherever she is and it seems to have worked.

My broody has been fab for a day and half, hopefully shes back to normal (for now). The crate was a great idea and only took a few days, she was in it for a few hours in the evening, then when it got dark I popped her on her perch with the other girls and in the morning I crated her again so that the others could have access to the nest boxes. When they had layed I let my Wyandotte freerange with them to try and keep her to routine. Thanks guys your posts helped a lot.