Comments on: Chickens Like to Keep Things Interesting

By: basicliving

basicliving — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:14:12 +0000

Hi Ron – thank you so much for stopping by. Wow, to hear you say you love my blog means a lot to me, because you’re blog is totally awesome! A summer kitchen would be heavenly. One day, I hope to have one. Maybe we’ll wait until you do it and put the pictures up so I have some idea how to go about it

I completely love my outdoor sink. I use it all the time, and even when I don’t have to use it, I stop and stare at it. It’s really nice to wash up potatoes we dig up before bringing them in the house – and everything else from the garden. I also use it to wash my hands after cleaning the coop. Can you tell I love my outdoor sink?

By: Ron

Ron — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:34:34 +0000

I love your blog, great pictures and stories. I got this far and had to tell you that I LOVE the outdoor sink, very nice! I’ve been planning one for the summer kitchen but haven’t gotten that far yet. Your photo is motivating.

Ron

By: basicliving

basicliving — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:54:10 +0000

Hi Lisa – I wouldn’t say I know more than you – we just have different experiences at some things. I think you’re smart to give that poor girl a few eggs! You can do it before you get the separator made – just be sure to mark the eggs you want her to set on so you can lift her each evening and remove the new ones the others lay for her in there. My first broody almost starved herself to death when she first went broody. I didn’t want to give her eggs, but after 3 weeks, I decided I better. She sat for a total of about 6 weeks before hatching out the babies – and she dwindled away to almost nothing during that time. I would DEFINITELY give your girls some eggs to set on as quickly as possible so she can hatch them out and start getting back to normal!

Best of luck – please let me know how it goes!

By: lisa

lisa — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:05:28 +0000

Thanks basicliving. I do beleive that my Red Star is broody. She has been in the nesting box for 3rd week now. I have been removing eggs from under and she makes a little fuss at me but does not growl at me. She is such a sweet girl. I have been feeding her and giving her water and I am afraid that she is gonna melt away to nothing. My chickens aren’t very big anyways and my feed guy says they are small chickens anyways. I do not believe she is laying eggs herself but lays on other chickens eggs. I just got 25 babies in March and unfortunately I lost 1 and now have 24. They seem happy and healthy. They are separated from the adults until they are all eating the adult food. I truly LOVE all of my babies and my adults. I don’t on the other hand love my Rhode Island Red rooster which is named Jake. He is a awful thing. He is mean to me and everyone else and to my girls. I am going to get rid of him if I can find him a home that won’t KILL him. He is a jerk but don’t want to see him die because he is so mean. Back to my Broody girl. I believe that we are gonna knock out one of the4 dividers in the nesting box and put rat wire to block the other out so they wont eat her food and give her some room to move around and lay on some eggs. This is all so new to me I am scared for her and the others especially the mean “Jake”. I think it is great to be able to communicate with other people who know more than me. Thanks

By: basicliving

basicliving — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 17:24:51 +0000

Hi Lisa – thanks for stopping by! Concerning the Red Star that is in the nesting box – does she stay on the nest at night? That’s the first big tip that a hen is broody. Do you know if she is laying at all? That’s sometimes hard to tell, because others will often leave eggs in her nest for her to set on. Broodies will not lay eggs until the broodiness is over.

Broodies will also often make a cooing sound in the nest box, and puff up and “growl” when you look in on her or try to move her.

If she’s been on that nest box for 2 – 3 weeks and even sleeps in it, I’d say you have yourself a broody for sure.

If you want or don’t mind more chicks, put a few eggs under her! Once she hatches and raises them, she’ll be fine – until she goes broody again. If you don’t want her to hatch out any, then you will need to try to break her of being broody – and I will warn you, it is usually very difficult! I’ve only broken one and it’s a LONG story about how it came about, but the bottom line is that I was able to simply remove her from the nest every hour or two and make sure NO eggs were left in nests for her to set on for any amount of time. I also removed her from the nest each night (make sure it’s dark) and put her on a roost. It took about a week of doing that every single day, and she finally gave up on being broody. It was a lot of work.

Another method that I’ve heard many people have had great success with is putting the broody in a cage with a wire bottom and NO bedding material whatsoever. You’ll have to feed/water her in there, or let her out occasionally – making sure she doesn’t climb into a nest box when she’s done! Breaking her broodiness this way may take some time too, but, by all accounts, it does work.

Best of luck to you! I’d love to hear how things go and what you decide!

By: lisa

lisa — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:24:01 +0000

Hi, I am new to this site and just started in October of 2008 with 15 Red Star hens and 1Rhode Island rooster named Jake. I unfortunately lost one of my Red Stars on Christmas Day by none other than our former Dachsund. I have since gotten rid of the Dachsund and built another coop and got 25 more babies (Aracaunna, Delaware, White Giants and Barred Rocks and Hamburgs) I have the babies (which are now 3 months old and are staying separate from my big girls and the horrid Jake the rooster, until they are old enough to eat the same food. I have a Red Star which is approximately 1 year old and for the past 2-3 weeks has been laying in the nesting box and barely coming out to eat or drink. she seems well and was one of the roosters favorites but I am not sure what is going on and was wondering is she is trying to go Broody. Please help and I am putting food and water in her nesting box so she will not starve.

By: J.P.

J.P. — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:41:34 +0000

Well i’ll probably buy about a dozen hatchin’ eggs from a friend and set the best looking eggs from the bunch. (anywhere from 4-12 depending on their condition.) Btw, love the new post!

By: basicliving

basicliving — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:49:59 +0000

J.P. – Yay for your broody buff/red star! How many eggs did you give her to set on? My last (*hopefully*) two broodies are only on 4 eggs between them. They are due to hatch out tomorrow – if my math is correct. I really hope at least 2 of them hatches so they can have at least one baby each and get over this broodiness. Keeping my fingers crossed…..

By: J.P.

J.P. — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:09:02 +0000

Well, the only reason our little hens would help eachother is because, when they 1st started setting we would put them together BEFORE there were chicks running around. A mama hen that has eggs acts very differently then a mama hen with babies. Once she has had babies there is usaully no way the broodies will work together =( unless they get used to eachother like yours did. There was NEVER any friendship among our broody teams. haha
good news though! one of my buff/red star hens has gone broody!

By: basicliving

basicliving — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 10:26:19 +0000

J.P. – I hear ya! We have gone through just about HALF the bag of 50 pound feed for mama and chicks in 2 weeks! I. AM. NOT. KIDDING. It is so frustrating – The feed gets knocked over at least daily – the prefer to show the babies how to scratch for it anyway. Yesterday I let Broody2 and her chicks into the coop and threw the food around on the floor for them. Broody1 came out and a brawl immediately ensued. Today I plan to sit out there with them until they all learn to get along. Last time they fought like crazy until about week 2 – and then just stopped. But I’ve got to get them out of that brooder so the next two can go in it – new babies are due on Wednesday. So many people have broodies that get along and even work together to raise the babies – but that ain’t happening around here for some reason!