8 week brood & no end in sight - what now?

[NewChickMomma917]

I have a one year old red star who has been brooding for over 8 weeks now and shows no end in sight! She only eats and drinks when we kick her out of the box and force her to. Some days I can only get her to eat out of my hand - not the feeder. It's 110 here right now so even with ventilation, the coop gets very hot during the day. She is half her starting size and refuses to let feathers grow back on her chest. She lets me pick her up but gets aggressive with our other hens and our juveniles - not the point of injury but more annoyance. How long is this going to last and should I be worried it's going on so long?

 

[CapricornFarm]

You can suspend her in a small cage with a wire bottom so she can't make a nest, and her belly cools off. That is what i read works. Good luck, sounds like she sure needs a rest.

 

[lazy gardener]

I would get a bucket of cool water and give her a nice cool soak. Make sure it's about 10 minutes long. Not cold water... coolish water. Think about the temperature of the lake when you go for your first swim... Perhaps 65 - 70*. If you don't take action to break her, she will loose so much condition that she will succumb to illness if not malnutrition.

 

[aart]

Cool dunk...... then put her in a broody breaker crate.
Raised off the ground with smaller mesh 1x2" min and no bedding.
Is she drinking?
Some 'sav-a-chik' electrolytes/vitamins might be in order.

 

[azygous]

My friends have given smart advice. No doubt your hot climate has contributed to this lengthy broody spell since temperature plays a key role in sustaining broody hormones. You need to interrupt the process by interrupting the temperature factor.

In cooler weather, it's enough to merely elevate a broody so cooler air can circulate under her. But when the temperature is upwards of 100F, additional cooling is necessary to bring the broody's body temperature down low enough so that it stops supporting the production of broody hormones. Thus the cool water soaks.

When I face breaking a broody in very hot weather, I take her out of the cage every so often and soak her belly in tepid water and replace her in the cage. The evaporation of the water from her wet belly feathers cools her body temperature, furthering the breaking process.

I'm going into the "why" of why we sometimes use water to cure a broody so as to counter the hair-brained "custom" of dunking a broody in ice water which is cruel and accomplishes very little towards breaking the broody.