I cured my brood hen of her broodiness! Yay!

[CathyB59]

Thanks to various threads here I finally stopped my broody hen from being broody! I tried putting her in a dog crate, first with some pine shavings with no success, then with a wire bottom with no success. Then I found a thread where someone said their grandfather used to dunk a broody hen (didn't dunk her head) in a bucket of cool water. It's been really hot here (90s) so I put her in the bucket and got her feathers thoroughly wet (even got the caked poop off her butt) and let her go in the yard dripping wet with the other hens . Immediate success! No more broodiness! Yay!

Now my question is: how long before she starts laying again? She was broody for over 2 weeks before I got her to stop. Any ideas?

Thanks! Cathy

 

[HEChicken]

I don't want to burst your bubble but I read an extensive thread on here about a year ago where someone had used the same method and was so happy it had worked. But the hen returned to being broody again a week or two later. She tried multiple times (I think 3x) with the same result each time. It only temporarily stopped the broodiness so in the end I think she gave in and gave the hen some eggs to sit on. In the end, sometimes the fastest way to cure broodiness is to let them sit. That way, 3 weeks later when the chicks hatch, the hen gives up on being broody.

 

[CarolJ]

Some hens are determined broodies. I had one that went broody - I broke her but a few weeks later she went broody again. After going through that several times, I let her brood some eggs. She hatched the eggs and was a wonderful mother, but ss soon as the chicks reached 6 weeks of age, she stopped mothering them (they were fine) - she started laying again almost immediately and then went broody again. She just hatched more chicks - and the first set are just 10 weeks old. If she goes broody again, she won't be getting anymore eggs because I don't need any more chicks! And I think she probably needs a break. Sitting in a nest for 3 weeks has to be hard on them.

Good luck - hope your hen isn't so determined! LOL!