Broody Hen suddenly stops???

mOOf

Hatching
Jun 11, 2015
8
0
7
Washington State
Hi everyone,

I have a beautiful bantam Cochin who decided to go broody about two weeks ago. I was delighted! While I don't have a rooster to keep my girls company ;) I wanted to try giving her a couple 1 day old chicks to raise this Saturday. (That would put her at ~20 days of brooding)

Everything was going splendid, she had her broody quarters set up in a dim, quiet place with her own food and water and she was sitting on her clutch of golf balls loyally. I was so proud of my little future momma until yesterday.

The little bugger left the nest and won't sit anymore. Do any of you more seasoned chicken lovers have any tips to encourage her to get back on the nest?
 
She will get back on when she goes broody again. It may be in a couple of weeks or in a couple of months. Only she knows for sure. You can not force her to sit on eggs.
 
It's a matter of hormones, and timing. Some hens will go broody once in their lives and that's all she wrote, while others will go broody on schedule every five or six weeks.

Usually the broody spell, if left to run its course, is over in three or four weeks. So if your bantam was broody for that long, it's unlikely she will return to the nest right away.
 

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