A Broody Hen

[GeneticFreak]

Good morning. Thanks to the wonderful information found within this forum, a hen that I thought was sick, is actually broody. My question is, is there some sort of general consensus regarding how long a hen will stay broody for? We don't have any roosters and thus no fertile eggs. My youngest son's responsibility is to go into the coop, force her out of the nesting box and make sure she is getting her nutrition (and she is getting food and drink). I am assuming she is completely fine with this broody phase and to be honest, when she gets out of this natural funk, I am going to miss my kid and her fighting as he tries to get her to go out for food and water!

 

[azygous]

If you do nothing to interrupt the hormones, a broody can remain broody for a month, maybe longer, threatening her health and even her life.

The best practice is to break the hormones with a broody cage. The objective is to cool down the hen's body temp with air circulation under her. Giving her access to a nest or even allowing her to run free, she will insulate her underparts by squatting against a solid surface, even just the ground, and this keeps her from cooling down.

An open mesh bottom cage, and even a fan to blow cool air under her, can break a broody in about three days. The longer a hen has been broody, the longer this process can take. I've had a hen take nine days to break. I place the cage in the middle of the run where it's busiest, and keep her there at night, too, throwing a sheet over the cage for seclusion and security. Even roosting on a perch can perpetuate the hormones.

The "test" is to turn the broody loose and if she doesn't immediately run back to plant herself in a nest, she's over her hormones. She should be laying again in two to three weeks.

 

[GeneticFreak]

If you do nothing to interrupt the hormones, a broody can remain broody for a month, maybe longer, threatening her health and even her life.

The best practice is to break the hormones with a broody cage. The objective is to cool down the hen's body temp with air circulation under her. Giving her access to a nest or even allowing her to run free, she will insulate her underparts by squatting against a solid surface, even just the ground, and this keeps her from cooling down.

An open mesh bottom cage, and even a fan to blow cool air under her, can break a broody in about three days. The longer a hen has been broody, the longer this process can take. I've had a hen take nine days to break. I place the cage in the middle of the run where it's busiest, and keep her there at night, too, throwing a sheet over the cage for seclusion and security. Even roosting on a perch can perpetuate the hormones.

The "test" is to turn the broody loose and if she doesn't immediately run back to plant herself in a nest, she's over her hormones. She should be laying again in two to three weeks.

Thank you very much for the info.

 

[chickens really]

@aart has a great photo of a Broody breaker..

 

[aart]

@aart has a great photo of a Broody breaker..

Standard blurb and pic:
If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, best to break her broodiness promptly.

My experience goes about like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest (or as soon as I know they are broody), I put her in a wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop or run with feed and water.

I used to let them out a couple times a day, but now just once a day in the evening(you don't have to) and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two. Or take her out of crate daily very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate.

Chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.

 

[GeneticFreak]

Standard blurb and pic:
If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, best to break her broodiness promptly.

My experience goes about like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest (or as soon as I know they are broody), I put her in a wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop or run with feed and water.

I used to let them out a couple times a day, but now just once a day in the evening(you don't have to) and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two. Or take her out of crate daily very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate.

Chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.
View attachment 1814093

Tremendous! Greatly appreciated. Will give it a try.