Sugar is in broody jail

Sugar has now been broody for two weeks. Because I know that she will easily carry on for a month or more I have decided that it is time to break her out of it.

With five girls laying it is clogging up a nest box having Sugar in one all of the time and I don’t want her to lose condition.

Smoke who was also a serial broody used to allow me to perch her in the chicken shed overnight and I think that may be why she would come out of it after two weeks.

Sugar refuses to perch at night. She will go floppy and just drop from the perch making no attempt to hold on. When in the broody crate she will perch at night possibly because she doesn’t like to sit on the paper lining the tray rather than shavings.

This means she always comes out of it after two nights in the broody crate. Yesterday afternoon I put Sugar in the broody crate with a dish of water and a dish of mash.

I got Sugar out before bedtime for exercise and some sunflower hearts. Sugar wasn’t at all interested and went straight to the closed nest boxes and tried to find a way in. I put her back in the crate.

At bedtime Sugar was on the perch when I closed the shed. This morning when I opened up she was still on the perch which is a good sign.

I closed the nest boxes and the chicken shed and returned Sugar to the run. Sugar had food and water and then a long dust bath which good to see. Sugar then hung out with the flock and I wondered if she had come through this super quick.

I knew the only way to tell was to open up the nest boxes. Sugar instantly made a bee line for the nest box and was straight back in. I returned her to the crate.

I will get her out a couple of times today and leave her in there overnight for a second night. I hope that will do the trick. Tomorrow we will see.