Too broody

[eggsgalore]

My Australorp hen has hatched chicks in early April, abandoned them seven weeks later, layed a few eggs and became broody again. With logging going on on our property I was able to get her off but a few weeks later she is more determined than ever to sit on no eggs.
I need help to save her from herself as she is getting skinny.

 

[Alabama_boy]

I had a bantam last summer that set 3 times ,hatched 7 ,hatched 5 , hatched 3 the last time being the first of October.

 

[eggsgalore]

Thanks for sharing. But I would also like some advice from some of you on how to get her off her nest.

 

[cajunlizz]

I DO NOT know if there is any truth to this OR NOT . I was told to break a hun out of her broody cycle is to DUNK her in a pail of water a couple of times and she will STOP this BROODY STUFF .

 

[MsBentleyboy]

Read this for some help ...

http://www.freewebs.com/backyardhen/broodyhen.htm

 

[shastagoose]

We dunked her in a pail of sun warm water for 10 minutes. She was good for about an hour, then right back to sittting on nothin.. I was told to seperate her with food and water for a couple of weeks. Gonna try it starting tommorrow.

 

[bluerose]

My BO hen keeps going broody. I kick all three of the girls out of the coop for the day- that generally gets her to stop (at least until someone forgets to collect eggs and she gets the bright idea to start sitting again).

 

[beakkeeper]

Put her on her own in an enclosure with NO BEDDING! at all, so she doesn't feel she's on a nest. What breed is she?

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Dunking a broody hen in water sounds extreme, even mean. I found the easiest way is to confine the hen to a wire-bottomed cage -- WITH food and water!!! But nothing else but a stick for a roost. Hang it from the rafters or set it up on sawhorses or blocks for maximum airflow under her. After 3 days the hen should be ready to return to her flock. We use an old parrot cage on a metal stand, we call it the Broody Buster.

But why do you want to break her broodiness? She sounds like a good Mama, staying with her chicks for 7 weeks (it's not "abandonment" at that age, they're old enough to fend for themselves and feathered enough to keep warm). And I'd trust even a broody hen to keep from starving herself.

I don't understand what the logging has to do with not wanting a hen to set eggs, will the trees be falling on the chickens? Even so, I would urge you to use a kinder method to break your hen's broodiness!

 

[eggsgalore]

I will never dunk her. She is a very sweet hen (Australorp) and when she is her normal non-broody self always hangs out with me, talks to me and she waits until I am quiet and then she talks again. She is just sitting on an empty nest. Even alone in her pen she finds a corner to sit on soil. I think I will try a wire floor cage in the hen house so the other hens will still know her. The reason I am not letting her raise chicks is that I have plenty of chickens and I do not have the set up to separate the adolescent chicks from the pecking hens. It was a nightmare the last time to keep them safe. Finally all of the remaining chicks (4 months old now) are living in some sort of agreement with the old gals.
Thanks everybody for helping me make up my mind.