Broody Hens

ChickenKeep01

Songster
5 Years
Jul 2, 2016
224
34
121
Australia
My Japanese Bantam will not stop going brooding about a month after i broke her the first time she went broody again and i finished breaking her today but she had gone broody in the cat carrier (she had all day to leave but didn't) so i took her out thinking that she wouldn't go back be she did. Do i just have to break her for longer or is she just to good of a mother? ( had her in the cat carrier for 3 days)
 
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Does the cat carrier have a wire bottom?

To break her broodiness, you need to ensure a cool air flow under her belly. Placing her in a wire bottomed cage chocked up off the ground on a brick in each corner with no bedding so that air can flow underneath her and not allow her to maintain the heat she needs to incubate eggs is the best way. Placing a small roost in the cage so that she is not standing on wire all the time is a good idea and of course food and water. If you are in a hot climate, a fan to blow air under her will help or placing her in an air conditioned room.

Of course the alternative would be to treat her to some hatching eggs!
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Understand that unless you can cool down a broody's body temperature, her broody hormones will persist. As rebrascora points out, an open mesh bottom cage is the key.

If you add a fan to blow air under her, it hastens the process. Allowing her to roost at night with the others is a mistake, since she will hunker down on the perch, protecting her nether regions and re-warming them, prolonging the broody hormones so keep her in the cage around the clock.

Using the open mesh bottom cage, the process can take as little as three days, but tough cases may take as long as ten days.

I have such a broody as you describe yours. My six-year old Speckled Sussex has gone broody three or four times each spring and summer without fail, and she takes a good nine or ten days to break. I gave up at the end of this summer and gave her some eggs to sit on. Turns out she's just as good at mothering a chick as she is going broody.
 

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