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Post by fluffychook on Sept 13, 2008 9:29:23 GMT 8
I put my duck eggs under my 2 broodies. One is a lovely thing, Julianne, she lets me look and poke and only complains a bit. The other is a nasty bit of work and will peck me. I go in with the icecream container with her, her name is Mary. Well it turns out Mary is a nest hopper, so the duck eggs I put under her were cold and she was on another nest incubating fake eggs. So I put all the duck eggs under faithful Julianne.
Fine, I remove all fake eggs. This morning both hens hopped off for some R&R and guess what, Mary comes back in first and goes to the duck eggs nest which was Julianne's who then goes and sits in the empty nest.
So do I move Mary off the eggs and put Julianne back on them or leave them and keep my fingers crossed that Mary doesn't do another nest hop and leave the eggs to go cold again.
I am pretty sure this is Mary's first time at being a broody.
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Post by horses7 on Sept 13, 2008 9:34:30 GMT 8
Is there any way that you can block off the nests from each other and separate the 2 hens
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Post by fluffychook on Sept 13, 2008 9:47:12 GMT 8
The nesting box is an old book case put on its side so there are three sections. I put the container for the chick starter food in the other nest to stop the nest hop to the vacant nest. But this means any other hens will now definately lay with the broodies which I was hoping to avoid.
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Post by genuinesqueak on Sept 13, 2008 21:56:29 GMT 8
What I do is completely move my broodies into a different cage/pen. I have a small rabbit hutch type thing, only fairly small, as they don't need much room until the chicks hatch anyway. Could you come how devide your pen or something so there' no way any other chooks can get to them or they can't get to each others?
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Post by horses7 on Sept 14, 2008 7:00:43 GMT 8
Let us know how you get on, good luck
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Post by fluffychook on Sept 14, 2008 8:54:04 GMT 8
I have the old chicken coup, but the nesting site would only be suitable for one broody and that is now the duck coup and they may not like a broody hen in there. This morning when I checked on them Julianne had claimed her nest back. I think putting the container in the third box has fixed the problem.
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Post by farmchooks on Sept 14, 2008 9:00:21 GMT 8
Good luck. We have separate cages that we move our broodies into and let raise their chicks away from the others.
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Post by fluffychook on Sept 16, 2008 7:55:35 GMT 8
Mary has nest hopped again, but this time Julianne has stayed in her nest. This means I now have 2 broodies on my four duck eggs. At least they will be warm. I think I am going to have to find a separate box or something for Mary as I don't want problems later. I am in a bit of a dilemma as I am locking up the ducks in the old coup and they would not take too kindly to Mary being in there as it is rather small. I might leave her for several more days and when I stop locking the ducks up at night in the coup move her then.
So what is the best way to move a broody who is nest sharing
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Post by genuinesqueak on Sept 16, 2008 9:06:42 GMT 8
When i move a broody, i get the new nest nice and cozy for them, then put the eggs in there and then put the hen in. I've had no problems, although i heard it's better if the area is a bit darker than normal, and night time would probably help. I've only had one hen that I couldn't move when she was broody, she'd just get off the nest and pace the fence.
I've got two more hen's on the verge of broodiness so I'm going to make them a pen today, or atleast one, i havent checked them to see if they're nasty or not hehe. I hope their not!
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Post by fluffychook on Sept 16, 2008 10:54:28 GMT 8
I moved her back to her own nest this morning so she was not sharing with Julianne and she stayed, so I hope when I move her next week all will go well. Thanks for the advice
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Post by fluffychook on Sept 16, 2008 17:39:32 GMT 8
Another hen has now gone broody, this is Juliette my white hen. Any Mary.....she has back to nest sharing.....oh well.
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Post by horses7 on Sept 17, 2008 6:53:47 GMT 8
good luck with your broodies, not as exciting, but a lot easier I just turn the switch on to the incubator. Would love to see some photos of the new moms with their babies,
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Post by genuinesqueak on Sept 17, 2008 8:58:37 GMT 8
Isn't it a pain when they all go broody at once?? I heard the best way to get a broody hen off being broody is to put them in a bucket of cold water several times a day, this changes their body temperature and eventually gets them over it all. I've never tried it tho, i've always wanted broodies hehe.
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Post by fluffychook on Sept 17, 2008 11:28:41 GMT 8
I use the lock em out of the coup method and it seems to work fine for me. I have a couple more duck eggs that I want to incubate so I will leave them for now. Mary was sharing nests this morning with Julianne so I thought I would move the container blocking the last nest as Juliette was now in the middle. Yes your right she has now nest hopped to the last box. Hopefully she will get her act together and stay put. No eggs for her until she shows she is a stayer
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