Broody or ill?

[phlebasconsidered]

White sussex ( Lilly) is not coming out of the coop, just sitting there all puffed up. Chucked her out with the aid of a spade and she just sat there for a bit and went back in again. She's still got a red thingummy bob and is bright eyed but she didn't even eat pasta!

Is she poorly, do you think, or broody? She was fine yesterday.

Sounds like a broody chook to me. You'll know when she next poos. Broody poos are dis.gus.ting.

If her comb pales then be more concerned. Try to get her to eat and drink something but don't offer it when she's on the nest as she'll have no encouragement to move.

Sounds broody - personally i pick up and plonk down in front of food/water on a regular basis.

I do that too Sim.

Phleba, the only thing that cured my girl (the four times she went broody in one year) was separating her from the others. We built a cage and plonked her in that every night, in our dining room. Each morning we'd let her out and she'd run back to the others. The day she didn't run straight up to the nest was the day she forgot to be broody.

Weirdly, I think my girl was over emotional - when one of the others died, she went broody the next day. Then when it was too hot = broody. The last time was when their water feeder cracked and they didn't have access to water for 2 hours. One day we ended up putting her in the cage during the day, with food and water. We were at home so didn't feel too guilty about that. 2 hours later she was squawking away so I went down to see her...she'd knocked over her food and water. I took her out of the cage and she went straight to the water and then went off to play.

Hasn't been broody since

How is your girl today?

I had an extremely broody gal. Tried everything - getting her to fly, dipping her bum in a bucket of cold water (these desperate measures are to cool the undercarriage) etc. Eventually my local chucky man gave me some fertile eggs and 3 weeks later we had 7 chicks! Lovely to look at but very difficult to catch! Good luck with your girl!

Hiya, have had my girls for six years.... But buddy, buddy is always broody! Annoying because she puts the others off laying (have 8 chooks) and buddy is broody about 3 times a year. We just let her get on with it. It's about four weeks of her being in the hutch, but I pick her out once a day, have a good cuddle if I have the time, then plonk her down by the food and water..... She will eat, drink and go back in hutch. It's nothing to worry about and if you want to go down the chicks route, perfect! Your broody one will make a noise, but the more they are handled, the better.