Broody Rusty

Rusty is definitely broody. She was in the nest box from when I first went out this morning. I looked in the nest box and she raised her tail. It made me realise that Freckles must have been going broody recently when she was doing the same tail raising thing.

The odd thing was that she didn’t commit to it so I passed it off as not being broody. She had been in the nest box on and off for a couple days and then finally laid a tiny egg. She was raising her tail when I checked on her in the nest box. After she laid her egg she returned to the nest box briefly as if she wasn’t sure she had laid it and then left the nest box and didn’t return to it. She did then take a break of six days before starting to lay again. It’s as if she was about to go broody but changed her mind.

Rusty raises her tail

Rusty raises her tail

Unlike Freckles fan like tail Rusty's silky tail is whispy

Unlike Freckles, fan like tail, Rusty’s silky tail is wispy

I lift her out of the nest box

I lift her out of the nest box

Every time I have gone out to the girls today I have lifted Rusty out of the nest box. She would then go and have some pellets from the three amigos feeding station, then run up the ladder for some water from the bottle (I have no idea why she goes there for water), then have a manic dust bath.

She isn’t an angry broody and is totally docile and quiet. She will let me stroke her and pick her up and never growls or tries to peck like some past broody girls (Topaz). In fact at the weekend we had our grandchildren to stay over, they are aged five and eight and they were thrilled that they could both stroke her and hold her. They don’t usually get this chance as the girls usually keep their distance from visitors.

At one point this afternoon she spent time on the perch above the ladder and I wondered if she may come out of this fairly quickly.

Freckles then went in to lay her egg and when I next checked Rusty was sat on it. I guess an egg is just too hard to resist. By now it was five o’clock and unlikely that any more girls would want to lay so I took Rusty out again and closed the nest boxes. It would be good if I could help her snap out of it sooner rather than later.

I always think it’s a little sad to spend days sitting in a nest box without an end result and it’s better that they get back to doing normal chicken things as soon as possible but I am so glad that she is a sweet broody girl rather than a little monster.

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8 Responses to Broody Rusty

  1. Marion Pharo says:

    What a lovely girl.

    • She is. After her monster moments when the three amigos first arrived she has turned back into a really sweet girl. When I think how angry Topaz used to be and I couldn’t even pick her up because she would growl and peck at me, there is no comparison. Rusty is quiet and docile and will allow herself to be stroked without the slightest protest.

  2. Sophie says:

    I do the wire cat carrier method to break their broodiness Carol and it works very well. One of mine was broody in the winter and I just kept pulling her out of the nest-box and she got the idea but now it’s warmer that doesn’t seem to work. So I’ve had two girls in the past fortnight and I kept them in the cage (with food and water obviously!) for two days and a night and it worked whereas before when I had large fowl it would take three whole days. xx

    • I do wonder if these little girls are perhaps easier to break from it than big girls. If so that’s a bonus. My cat carrier is solid plastic with just a wire grill at the front. I think I will carry on as we are at the moment and see how it works out. At least she is so easy to handle. I bet you are thinking (about going broody), “I told you so”. I wonder how the three amigos will turn out. xx

      • Sophie says:

        Not at all Carol. If you do decide to go with that route though you will need to get an all wire cat cage and raise it up on bricks so that the air can circulate. I’ve actually fastened the broody cage in the corner of the run at about shoulder height (by using wire fasteners) so that’s it’s not taking up room in the run and I don’t fall over it!! :-0 xx

  3. David Anderson says:

    I wish you luck! You are right about how easy it is to handle some broodies, and I’m pleased you have a docile one after Topaz; the majority of mine are very docile when broody, although do protest when [placed outside!

  4. I was lucky with Rusty as she gave up after three days. I think because we work from home it helped, because I just took her out every time I looked in on the girls, as she is so easy. Never even a squeak of protest from her, bless her. She probably thought it wasn’t worth going on after being moved so much. She is very much back to her usual self.

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