If It Ain’t One Thing…
Monday, July 21st, 2008
No one ever said raising chickens was easy. I had just gotten the two chicks born this spring (nearly full-sized now) integrated with the three older hens when one of the older hens suddenly turned “broody.” About a week ago, the Black Australorp, fueled by some surge of hormones, decided it was time to hatch some chicks (even though I don’t have a rooster and it is, therefore, impossible). She’s pretty much been sitting in the nest box ever since.
Driven by their natural maternal instinct, broody hens will rarely leave the nest. So committed are they to sitting on their eggs, they can actually die of starvation or dehydration. This instinct has been bred out of many breeds, but evidently not this one. I believe it was brought on by the long days we are now enjoying.
I don’t think this hen is so overwhelmed by her biology that she’s going to starve while sitting on the nest, but I am upset about the precipitous drop in egg production. While the Australorpe is sitting in the nest box, the other hens can’t lay their eggs. So what can I do about it?
There are many ways to discourage broodiness, most of which sound pretty cruel. For example, dunking the hen in water! Or making her sit on an ice block! What you want to do is reduce the hen’s body temperature in order to disrupt her hormonal cycle. I think it might be enough to put her in a wire cage for a couple days where she’ll be unable to keep her body temperature as high as it needs to be to incubate chicks. It’s a bit of work I’m not really looking forward to doing… but I need my eggs!