The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: Hatty on October 04, 2011, 08:53:47 am
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Hi I have and ex bat Blossom I keep her at home with her friend Violet the Aranucana, for the last few days she has not been herself,she stays in the house when I open the door, is not laying but other wise she seems fine. each morning I have lifted her out there has been one of violet's little blue eggs under her as warm as toast, do you think she has got broody when I take the egg there is no fuss and she then will stay out with Vi
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Hello :wave:
does she growl or anything? if you take her out does she fluff herself up-like my Sal in the photo? or can you pick her up and she is more subdued than normal? I have a few gone broody at the moment,they all act peculiar!
You say she is happy to stay out with Violet,normally,broodies like to stay in,have you checked her poop and checked to see in case she has an egg in her?is she eating and drinking ok?
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Hi Guys, there must be something in the air I have about 4 of my girls gone broody, do they stop laying when they go broody?.
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Hatty, its quite unusual for ex batts to go broody - although a couple of mine have in the past.
How old is she? Ex batts seem fine one day, and then they decide thats it, and die!! Most of the ones I got in a batch, have all gone within a short time of one another.
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Hi Guys, there must be something in the air I have about 4 of my girls gone broody, do they stop laying when they go broody?.
Yes they do. The sequence is that a hen, and many wild birds, will lay an egg a day until they have filled their nest, then they go broody. This is when they sit on the eggs and start to incubate them. Before they go broody, the eggs are kept cool so they don't develop. Once the hen has gone broody and warmed them up, all the eggs develop together and hatch at the same time. If the broody continued to lay eggs once she had started incubating her clutch, then those later eggs would be wasted - once her chicks hatch she will be off with them, teaching them to find food, and any unhatched eggs will get cold and die. Birds of prey tend to be the exception to this where they lay an egg every few days but start incubating from when the first is laid. This means that the eggs hatch a few days apart, giving hthe breeding pair chicks at various stages of development. This is a survival strategy in response to varying prey availability - and when there's nothing to eat then the chicks eat eachother, littlest first.
The domestic hen will continue to look after her brood for several weeks, without laying any more eggs, until she suddenly decides that enough is enough and she wants to go back with her pals. She will then start laying again and the now half-grown chicks will take care of themselves :chook:
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Hi Everyone
@ Roxy she is 3 this year, and seams fine in herself last one of my first ex-bats but has been like this for 4 or 5 Days
@ Leghorn can't feel an egg, poop is quite firm and if anything larger than usual, I stayed at home today to keep an eye on her and after a bite to eat she stayed in all day,no growl I would say more subdued than normal. would it be worth bringing a few eggs back from the field where the girls are with the cockerel to see what happens??
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Thank you Fleecewife that has helped me get that clear in my head :wave: