Topaz lives to sit on eggs. Topaz doesn’t lay eggs herself (at least, she laid six eggs last year and eight eggs this year) but spends her entire life waiting for her flock mates to lay their eggs so that she can sit on them. Once I remove the eggs from under her she comes out of the nest box shouting.
She is perpetually angry, because I think in her mind, she sees me as someone taking her future babies from her every day. I am spoiling her life by not letting her do what her heart truly desires. I can’t put her in a separate nest box to just sit it out because as soon as she sees any girl go into a nest box she is right there beside them, waiting for her chance to sit on their eggs.
I have never seen Topaz go into the main coop nest box. The only girl that uses the main coop nest box is Honey. There is a slow down in eggs at the moment due to Emerald and Toffee moulting and Sparkle recently not being well. Honey is the only girl that likes to use the main coop nest box. Yesterday when Honey was missing I looked in the main coop nest box and there she was with Topaz squeezed in next to her.
I went back to the house to fetch my camera to try to get a photo of the two of them together. However once I opened the nest box again I infuriated Topaz and missed the shot of them sat together. Instead I got a shot of Topaz leaving the nest box and shouting out her anger at this double disturbance.
Topaz is leaving the nest box in a huff
An angry Topaz shouting at me
I have started to consider the idea of letting Topaz go to somewhere where she can sit on eggs and raise chicks. This is only an idea at the moment and may not go anywhere but I am wondering about having a chat with Richard at the farm that I got the wyandottes and game girls from. He needed reliable broodies for his breeding program and I wonder if he would take Topaz back.
She is so beautiful but she doesn’t lay eggs and most importantly I feel she isn’t as happy as she could be because I am not allowing her to fulfil her desire of sitting on eggs and raising chicks. With Richard she could do this and I think she would make a wonderful mum.
Because she is top hen and is feisty almost to the point of aggressive, I feel she wouldn’t be vulnerable going into another flock. She is the only girl in my flock that would peck me. I have to move her off the eggs with a net as she will peck me and at bedtime I have to pick her up from behind or she will peck me. None of my other girls peck me and I feel that all this anger is because she is desperate to brood and is not able to.
She also pecks all the other girls out of her way. I am aware that if she were to go it would upset the pecking order massively but I wonder if that is a chance worth taking.
If Richard would be willing to take her, I would ask if I could buy another gold laced wyndotte and another game girl to accompany her so that I could introduce two together to my flock (I think it is better to introduce two at a time). This would bring my flock back to eight girls. I know I would be taking another chance on getting a broody but I am really beginning to feel that Topaz would be happier in an environment where she could raise some chicks.
This may come to nothing in which case I would keep Topaz and plod on as we are but it’s just something that I am mulling over at the moment. I hate to think that I am constantly holding her back from what she wants and she has now had two summers with me resulting in her being deprived of being properly broody.
This is all just a thought process at the moment but I felt that I should air it and would welcome any one else’s thoughts on this.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Hi, Carol. Topaz is an absolute conundrum. My wyandottes go broody at the drop of a hat (worse than my silkie), and most of them are fairly easily dissuaded by a couple of days in an elevated crate, but they always come back into lay, even if they only produce half a dozen, before going broody again. To look at Topaz’s head, she has the appearance of a business-like layer in the peak of condition, yet her egg production has been minimal. She is certainly an aberration! Beautiful bird, but not producing the goods. You may well be right to consider her long-term future. There are facebook groups up here where people are often asking for broody hens – maybe there’s something similar in your area?
This is the bit I don’t understand with Topaz. She looks in peak condition. If she went broody like your girls do then returned to normal I could go with that. But she is different, she stays like this all summer. Last year I thought it a fluke but this year she is just the same. She looks in peak condition but she stays in this perpetual broody but not quite proper broody state. She stays in a perpetual state of anger too. I am nonplussed! I wouldn’t want her to go to anyone but Richard which was where she came from and I know he values his broodies and specialises in wyndottes. I will call him and see what he thinks. He is a long standing expert in breeding wyndottes. I don’t really want to give up on her but I don’t want to give her a less than full life either.
I love the picture of Topaz screaming at you. I can picture her saying “Who is taking pictures of me!? I’m not happy with you!”
Have you ever had your girls go broody, but not become cranky? Speckles (the one hatching the eggs) hasn’t been cranky AT ALL. I have petted her, rubbed her wattle and comb, scratched her behind her neck, and even reached under her to grab a fake egg. (Which she clucked a little, but didn’t seem to upset. Probably thought “fine, take this one but don’t take the others”)
Waiting until the 17th, which could be the day the eggs hatch! ?
None of my other girls have committed to being broody but have had a broody day. Emerald and Honey have sat in the nest box for a day and when I realised that it was much longer than usual I lifted them out. They were both completely docile and didn’t peck me at all. While in the nest box I could stroke them.
Topaz has always been angry with it. Last year we were away overnight at my sons wedding and when we got back she was completely set in broody mode. For three weeks she sat and I would get her out once a day to eat and drink. I would use the net as she would peck me. She would come out screaming and fluff herself up and run at and peck any of the girls who got in her way. I never realised until then a chicken could have so much anger.
This year because I am taking the eggs from her she hasn’t set in like that but is just in this sort of broody limbo, perpetually trying to sit on eggs and angry all the time. That photo is how she is every day. She shouts out her anger like that every day. That’s why I am beginning to think that this isn’t a good life for her. Last year I thought it may have been a one off but I now think she may always be like this. I am quite torn at the moment but would only part with her if Richard the farmer would have her back.
Jillian, P.S. let me know when your eggs hatch. That will be exciting, I bet you can’t wait.
Nice post, Carol – and what a conundrum! 🙂 Placing her with someone who wants a broody sounds like an excellent idea. I have a buff orp purebred called Buffy (now called Big Momma) who is proving herself to be mother of the universe. She gets a little confused about where her clutch is at first, always wanting to return to the coop and lay on the wrong eggs if she is not completely isolated from the flock during her brood, but other than that, she will risk everything to protect her babies. She did battle with the fox last week, actually. Lost one chick, but her other is being guarded with her life. Bless her. It is a huge frustration for a mother hen not to be able to fulfill its duty, and all that anger is well placed in a bird needing to brood. Given that the only other viable solution to a non-layer is culling, placing her with someone happy to look after hatchlings is the best option really… keep us updated! Dorreen
I have to say I agree with every word you say. I know that all the anger is because she isn’t fulfilled and that is the main reason that I would like her to go to the farm where Richard breeds and really appreciates good broodies. As soon as I can I will call him for a chat.
Trust me you know it makes sense.. That’s all I have to say 🙂
I know you mean, been there, done that! I just don’t think a perpetually angry bird can be a happy bird.