Broody chicken limits?

Often this silkie goes into being broody...a lot. I was just wondering if there is a limit in which you have to intervine. I have read posts here about chickens dying because of being broody for too much.
I often take her out to eat and drink, but after awhile she goes back in the coop nests. She does eat/drink and pecks around then she goes back to beeing broody. She often takes feathers off her belly. Basically I just want to know more information about broodyness and how to identify when you have to intervine. I have silkies as pets and I am not a breeder.

Thanks

Is she sitting on eggs? If she is when they hatch she will go back to normal feeding and drinking while she takes care of the chicks. If not she may sit there long enough to affect her health, in which case you need to break her.Most chickens will stop being broody after a few days in a cage with a wire floor so that she get cooling air up her backside lowering her temp. The lowering of body temp will affect the hormones causing her to be broody.
Now if it is really hot where you are you may have to put a fan on her to help cool her down. Midsummer I usually sit the cage up on 2 sawhorses and turn the fan on the bottom of the cage. Just make sure she has food and water and no bedding .

Good advice above.

There's a Broody Hen thread that offers a ton of stories and advice.

Hi guys thanks for the replies.
She is not sitting on eggs.
She is not too bad when it comes to being broody. She usually snaps out of it in 1-2 weeks. I will put her outside and see what she does. If that won't work I do have that black cage. She is drinking and eating well.
Thanks for all the info. I am glad to have asked this question.

My Bantam chickens spend a lot of time broody, sometimes I break them sometimes I let them go because I'm tired of breaking them, just make sure that she's not losing weight, or getting infested with mites, unfortunately it's a breed that go broody, I put mine to work hatching eggs, and sometimes raising all kinds of poultry. I even had one broody in the dead of winter last year. Just something to deal with with certain breeds, very pretty silkie.

Before a hen even starts laying eggs she builds up extra fat. A lot of this is stored in a “fat pad” in her pelvic region (if you ever process a laying hen you’ll see what I mean) but the fat builds up all over. This is mainly what a broody hen lives off of while broody. She’ll lose a lot of weight but that’s OK, it’s fat put there for that purpose. A broody hen still needs to get up to eat, drink, and poop, but she really doesn’t suffer because she’s not eating or drinking a lot.

That fat will normally last a lot longer than a 3 week incubation period. I don’t have any problems at all for a hen to be broody and on a nest for five weeks, but I don’t have a time limit for how long it will last. That’s going to depend on how often she gets up to eat and drink. In cold weather I’ve seen a hen get up once a day for fifteen minutes. In hot weather I’ve seen a hen get up twice a day and stay off the nest for more than an hour each time. I’ve had several that I never saw off the nest at all but I knew they were getting up because they were not pooping in the nest.

Hens do all this by instinct. To me it’s really amazing how many get it right, but occasionally one won’t. A hen may not get up on her own. These can get into trouble. Normally a hen will break herself from being broody when that fat pad runs out but occasionally one won’t. I’ve never had either of these problems with my broody hens but some people on this forum say they do. I really think it is extremely rare for a hen to mess up but they are living animals. They don’t come with guarantees.

A professor of poultry science who also raises and breeds chickens once said that mites and lice kill more broody hens than anything else, especially roost mites. These come out at night and run away from light so you might want to check a broody for these just as good practice. But for a hen to starve herself to death while broody really is extremely rare. Death by mites is rare too. I wonder how many broodies people think starved herself to death was actually killed by mites.

You must not have bantam chickens, they will stay broody for months until they are almost dead, they don't behave in a natural way when it comes to broodiness. I have to inspect them daily to make sure they are okay. Before I knew this they would get infested with mites in the nest boxes, because they don't get out to dust bath as they should.

Thanks for the info. I will check her vent and feathers. I take her out of the coop and she does eat and drink. So far so good, but this is my first time owning chickens and this broodienes is a bit overwealming.