Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Still Brooding

This has become our daily ritual: Lottie refuses to leave the box. I extract her from the box. I then ply her with treats and hope she is motivated to stay outside the box, which doesn't work, so I repeat the same process the next day. How long can this go on?

Lottie Extraction:



Lottie & the other girls eating their sunflower seed treat:


By the time I posted this and looked outside, Lottie was back in the box.
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5 comments:

  1. Foothills PoultryMay 25, 2010 at 8:45 PM

    I extract broodies 4-6 times a day. Some times it works, others it doesn't. Most I have to make it so that they absolutely cannot get into a nest. Even then I have a few that will not break. Right now I am dealing with 20 broodies!!! The egg count is suffering.

    Puff and Maggie have been like this for over a month. They are about to break me and force me to let them have some eggs. Last year, Puff didn't break from broodiness till she started molting in AUGUST!

    Also have 2 with babies and another due tomorrow.

    Good luck with yours.

    ~~Matt~~

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  2. Nancy K.May 25, 2010 at 9:15 PM

    I just had my NPIP inspection/certification and the guy who did it (he has raised/showed & judged poultry for over 50 years!) told me that to break a broody he dips them in cold water! He said that broody hens actually have a higher body temperature and dipping them in cold water will 'break the fever' and they'll stop having the desire to set.

    I haven't tried it yet but it sounds good to me!

    ;-)

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  3. Glamour Goes GreenMay 26, 2010 at 12:03 PM

    Ugh...more months of THIS? Lottie is wrecking havoc on my egg supply, too. She seems to have thrown everyone off! I'm tempted to try the cold water trick - I guess I could just spray her with the hose. (That's actually what we do to Wanda when she squawks early in the morning.)

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  4. AngelleMay 27, 2010 at 8:01 PM

    Wow, mine usually just give up after about 3 weeks.

    ReplyDelete
  5. JennaJune 2, 2010 at 3:37 PM

    Oh Lottie is beautiful!! Go ahead and give her a few eggs. It'll be fun. I hope to have some broodies next year.

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