Re: What's the point in breaking broodiness?

Mary Fisher wrote:
> My only concern is that the broody doesn't eat much and my little
> banties have very little flesh on them to start with, but I've never
> had one starve.
>
> Is there a real problem (apart from lack of laying, which is a human
> desire) with a broody hen?
>
> Mary

Lack of nutrition is significant in my view
A broody can stay so for anything up to 6 weeks without a hatch
A bantie should be eating around 60 - 80 grammes of food a day
This she will take in over the period of the day
A broody will leave the nest for only short periods and eat only a fraction
of what she should
If this was only for a few days it would be not really an issue but for 3 -
6 weeks it seems to me to be significant
After all if someone limited their livestock intentionally by only feeding a
third of their recommended daily intake most folks would be up in arms about
lack of care.
Having said that chickens cope with a great deal of abuse stoically and
resiliently -- whether we choose to put their system through that or not is
up to each chicken keeper.
I have it on heresay that the best broodies of old were really greedy birds
in the spring -- they would be incredibly good foragers and their keepers
would give them high quality feed to ensure that their resources were well
stoked up before the broody season. They were also not likely to be laying
through the autumn and winter so they did not have further increased draws
on their resources.
Another factor is the increased likelihood of parasite build up on broodies.
any residual mite population can simply explode on a bird that is creating
such a static warm environment with very little grooming

--

regards
Jill Bowis

Pure bred utility chickens and ducks
Housing; Equipment, Books, Videos, Gifts
Herbaceous; Herb and Alpine nursery
Working Holidays in Scotland
http://www.kintaline.co.uk

.

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