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The Chicken Thread.


phoebejo

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Cora has been sitting in the nest box most of this morning... she was in there around 9 o'clock, when I went out again at 10.30 she was still sitting there so I shooed her out. She was sitting on 2 eggs but they were only warm from sitting on them not warm as in just laid. She is back in there now..... possibly the giant egg was hers and she is a bit strained today but if that is not the case is she getting broody? Normally she is strutting round the enclosure during the day. Help please!!!

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How intriguing :unsure:

 

I wonder what she's up to? :blink: Sorry if it's a really stupid question, but what do you do with broody hens? Am I right in thinking that you can get some sort of pretend egg for them to nest on? :unsure: Do they not realise that it never hatches? And do they get over the broodiness after a while? :unsure:

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Just got back from the beach with the beasts and she was in there still - but must have heard me opening the gate as she shot out....

 

Not sure what you do with them but I am sure someone on here will point me in the right direction (or maybe I should just give her some liquid paraffin?!?!?!?)

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She's pottering around outside now... looking really miserable and fluffed up, but her comb is up so take it that is a sign she is ok and just having a bad day. The others are hanging around together and she is over the other side on her own so maybe they had a bit of a disagreement about something.

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If my chickens are ill they tend to sit outside and look hunched up and miserable. If they're broody, they sit on eggs (not necessarily their own) and come out very late in the afternoon for a quick mooch round and some grub. Normally, I leave them alone in the morning (giving them the benefit of the doubt!!) and then if they're still there in the afternoon, I just move the eggs from underneath them (which is usually enough to shift them outside) and pretend there's nothing abnormal. Usually after a few days they give up!! Alternatively, if you have any fertile eggs, give them somewhere else to sit with the eggs underneath and let them get on with it! When I had some very, very broody hens I bought some fertile hatching eggs from ebay. I've had some great results from that.

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Does she still lay? Everyone seems to say fat chickens don't lay but nobody told Juliet that :laugh: She's ginormous but I put that down to her Sussex genes (she's a Sussex hybrid). She is fat and she's greedy too. I am concerned about her lardyness and they're all on a diet. They used to have one scoop of corn shared between the ten every afternoon but they now only get corn a couple of times a week. Their afternoon treat is now just cabbage, broccoli, kale, etc etc.

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I think our Tilly is turning broody again too. She is still laying but doesn't want to come out the coop, so I am turfing her out anyway. She doesn't really mind, but does keep trying to get back in, so I have closed the pop hole.

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Cora was out with the others this morning and when I got home this evening she was still out so take it she was just having a bad feathers day yesterday.

 

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: That's so funny!

 

 

I think my lardy chick is probably due to greed and over feeding then. OH will give them loads of corn, we use a 15kg bag a month for 8 chooks, plus bread, plus layers pellets, plus cabbages and anything else he can get his hands on. They do lay well though but the eggs must be the most expensive on the market!

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