Yesterday I left the nest boxes open and Sugar took no notice of them so in the evening I left her with the flock. When I checked at dusk I was really pleased to see that Sugar was perched with her flock mates.
After three nights in the broody crate Sugar has come out of this at last. Sugar is now eating normally again and I think her comb has a bit more colour to it.
Just as Sugar has come out of this it looked as if Salmon was going broody. Salmon has never gone broody before. I couldn’t believe that as soon as one girl is out of it the next girl is into it.
Just as I was opening up the nest boxes again I decided to close them up once more. Having just researched broodiness I had been reminded that the quicker you try to stop them the faster the process will be.
I just felt that I couldn’t cope with another broody so soon and while Salmon was sitting in the nest box Flame was sitting on top of her. I really don’t want this behaviour again. After salmon had sat in the nest box for several hours without laying I decided to take her out and close up the nest boxes. Flame had already laid her egg.
I have to say that Salmon is a beautiful girl. Salmon was in angry mode and ran at any nearby little girl and chased them away. She paced around clucking away with the typical broody sound all afternoon.
I waited until dusk to see if Salmon would perch or sit in the corner of the shed. I was very pleased when I checked and both Sugar and Salmon were perched.
I left the nest boxes closed and waited to see if Salmon would be sitting in the corner of the chicken shed in the morning. Salmon was out in the run. Unlike Sugar Salmon only wants the nest boxes and not the chicken shed.
This makes the process easier. It means the shed can stay open for any of the girls that want to lay and Salmon will be kept out of the nest boxes. Salmon already seems to be returning to normal so I am hopeful that speedy intervention has nipped it in the bud.
Phew! It would be great to be free of broody girls for a while and it’s so nice to go up and see the whole flock out in the run. I hope this means Salmon is back to normal and tomorrow I will try the nest boxes open again while keeping an eye on her.
Click here to see the history of my flock.
Great news on Sugar. You are right that if you can ‘break’ them before they are really into it, it is better. If you don’t manage with Salmon, however, the break from laying might well be good, given her earlier problems.
Yes, I also thought that it would be a break for her, from laying but when I saw her under Flame with only her feet sticking out I decided to put a stop to that. She has laid nine good eggs since the problem so I am now hoping that was just a blip. Also even breaking her out of it she will still probably take at least a week off laying. I will open up the nest boxes tomorrow and see what happens.
Good news, What an amazing picture of Salmon, beautiful girl.
Salmon is a beautiful girl. Two days of closing the nest boxes and she was back to normal. It is so lovely to go up and see the whole flock out in the run. Broody free for five minutes!