They hate me!

[bluemoon]

If swine & avian flu were to meet up,who know's the possibilities!!!
Nicos...someone mentioned a "sin bin" type coop with a wire meshed bottom to make sitting uncomfortable...sounds a little mean,but if it works may be worth a try???

There's a book called 'Poultry House Construction' by Michael Roberts that has detailed instructions on how to make a sin-bin...... mind you, you'd need three or four.

[Nicos]

Your best bet is to build them a sin bin - a cage with a wire bottom raised off the floor which is uncomfortable for them to sit on. My father (who kept bantams for over 40 years and passed his lore on to me) always put his in them when he had too many broodies. I've got enough hens to cope with a few being broody so don't bother, but if you need the eggs then sort out a sin bin double quick. All the broodies can go in there together and usually they are ready to go back in lay within a few days. Give them only layers pellets and NO grain or treats (grain heats them up and will keep them broody for longer). Good luck!

Ahh...interesting!! ( says she who has just chucked some porridge oats out for them!!)

I've got a wire pet carrier- smallest dog one for the cat when he crosses the channel- i can remove the tray and put in some chicken wire

Is that day and night??...out during the day and in at night I presume?
When indoors can they be in the same room as the broody- so long as they can't see her- or are they better off in the barn????
Their coop is a granite pigsty -6 foot cube with 3 laying boxes
they won't damage their feet will they??.....I've just remembered piccies of battey hens on wire mesh based cages...but they were layers- would a solid base be kinder and just keep them isolated together????
I'm worried they'd just puff up and cuddle in together!!

[lynda66]

AAWWWWWWWW poor nicos ... i'm secretly hoping mine ar just constantly broody so they don't have to do that giving birth to eggs thing .. cos it's gonna hurt and have figured out i can make a door in the nest box and add a run as a broody coop and stick a couple of boxes under the shelf for nest boxes ... but i may be a little ahead of myself lol ... hope it sorts itself soon .... and time for some full size chooks i reckon .... think of all them yummy dinners you'r missing by having bantams

[Flummery]

Speaking of sausages - a farmer friend who has a few rescued hens threw them a couple of sausages left over from a party. They'd been left out on the kitchen table all night so they didn't want to eat them. The chickens thought they were snakes! What a commotion. They ducked and dived and 'attacked' them and finally 'killed' them by bashing their little sausage brains out! Vicious little blighter, yer average chicken!

[chicken slave]

I'm sick of one of my hens she keeps going broody and she is a black rock. Shw has been in the sin bin 4 times but a week later she goes broody again. I was going to give her some eggs to sit on just to get it over and done with but we are thinking of moving in a few weeks so it would be pointless, even if she did manage to hatch before we moved we would then have to transport her and the chicks and I don't think that would be to good for any of them, so back to the sin bin 'AGAIN'

[Flummery]

Naughty girl!

[Glutton4...]

Speaking of sausages - a farmer friend who has a few rescued hens threw them a couple of sausages left over from a party. They'd been left out on the kitchen table all night so they didn't want to eat them. The chickens thought they were snakes! What a commotion. They ducked and dived and 'attacked' them and finally 'killed' them by bashing their little sausage brains out! Vicious little blighter, yer average chicken!

ROFL - I'd loved to have seen that!

A couple of my Batties occasionally get the urge to sit in the nest box and shuffle all the eggs underneath them, and fluff themselves up all cosily. I just turf them off and collect the eggs! If the silly wotsit wants to sit on the rubber ones after that, it's her choice.

[Nicos]

Good old Bertha has just laid me an egg!..thank goodness she's not gone broody!

The other two are out grazing in the field at the mo..looks like they might be cooling down a bit- they both feel quite warm to the touch!!

[janeyo]

Maybe we should start a Norty step for chooks lol

[di]

Yay for Bertha!!!Hopefully a day out grazing will encourage the other two to follow her lead!...got my fingies crossed for you!

[RichmondHens]

Hi Nicos - They need to be in the sin bin day and night. Your pet carrier sounds ok for one bird but probably too small for several. My father's sin bin looked a bit like a rabbit hutch on legs but without a solid bottom - just strong chicken wire nailed on. They had plenty of room to move around and feed and drink (and the poo dropped out through the wire too so not much cleaning). He kept his inside the hen house - it was a large walk in one which I appreciate not everyone has - but if the sin bin has a proper roof and sides then there's no reason why it can't be outside. It will be a bit draughty but that will help stop the broodiness.
They won't damage their feet on the wire for the few days that they'll be in there, unlike battery hens which spend their entire laying life in a cage.

[bluemoon]

The sin bin I have plans for doesn't have a wire mesh bottom, but it does have wooden slats instead - easier on the feet I would have thought. I think the idea is to keep their bums cold with a draught up the nether regions.

[lizzylemon]

The sin bin I have plans for doesn't have a wire mesh bottom, but it does have wooden slats instead - easier on the feet I would have thought. I think the idea is to keep their bums cold with a draught up the nether regions.

I thought the mesh was to stop them from sitting down too. I've read on previous Vine Threads that bottom dunking only take 3 days to stop broodiness - it reduces body temp that much quicker apparently!! But I am ONLY quoting what I've read, not through experience.

[Nicos]

By bed time, they were queuing up to get back into the coop- but not pacing up and down!!
Alice went straight onto the perch on her own ( but still quite puffed up) and Pheasant had a bit of a cackle through the chicken wire of Betty's box.


I'm thinking that each time I went outside today made them think I'd give them access to the coop.... if it's not raining tomorrow, hopefully the cool wind will chill them down a little-esp if I just leave them to it??

I've got the pet carrier ready- but will see if exclusion works first...tis excellent to have a back-up plan!!!...cheers folks!!!!