Anyone Else Busy Breaking Broodies?

[tdgill]

My girls have spring fever! I missed one morning egg collection and everyone went haywire! Just as soon as I got two of them over it, two more decided to go broody. I felt sorry for one mamma hen cause she plucked a bunch of her feathers out already so I let her have 6 eggs...I wish I could let em go and have a bunch of babies, but I have enough trouble as it is. lol

 

[Happy Chooks]

Sorta. I'm letting my broodies hatch babies. I have 2 broodies right now, and another "thinking" about it.

 

[nuttyredhead]

I have one that has been broody for about three weeks. At least she doesn't attack me when i take the eggs from under her!!! I have 15 and have no more room for more so she will have to get over it!

 

[off-grid hen]

I had two partridge rocks go broody on the same day-two days before my chicks arrived. April 7th. I didn't have a separate area to have a broody hatch or raise chicks, so I let them stick it out. I have more than enough nest boxes. One got off the nest frequently to eat and dust bathe. She didnt lose much weight. On day 21 she hopped off the nest in the morning when I let the girls out and never looked back.

The other one, however... Was still broody yesterday. She would get up maybe once a day, eat a few specks of food, take a drink and get back on the nest. I sent her out every other day or so to walk around, eat, dust bathe, etc. I work, so I don't know if she was getting up much at all unless I kicked her out. Two days ago, I picked her up to send her out to play and noticed that she had suddenly lost a lot of weight. Yesterday I bought a rabbit cage on feet and put some grower feed and crushed egg shells and water in there. She ate and ate and ate. Last night my husband carried her out to the lawn, and she bathed, ate some grass, and tried to march straight back to the nest. I am sure that since she's been broody so long, it will take a few days to break her.

I was hoping to let her figure it out for herself, let nature take its course- but I didn't want her to die in the nest box. I have plenty of eggs, so I didn't need to break her for that reason. The chicks were too old to slip under her (5 weeks old) and no feed stores are selling chicks near me. Plus I didn't have a separate broody mama area anyway.

Next year I can use the grow-out coop and run as my broody area. How much you wanna bet that since now that I'm prepared, I won't have any go broody?

 

[joan1708]

I have a white silkie that's gone broody. Locking her out of the coop during the day worked the last time but she was the only one laying then. Now I have 3 laying. On you tube I saw a video of a girl holding her broody hen in a pan of cool water to cool her underside off. Has anyone tried this? I sat my broody in water for a couple minutes yesterday and today and I locked her out of the coop. She is making a big circle in the run - going up the plank, pecking the pop door (like "let me in"), jumping off, going around and doing it again. It's sad.

Will the broodiness break quicker if I put her in a wire cage?

 

[kimntep]

My only hen of 9 to ever go broody and she's at it again! She tries every couple of months and she's extremely stubborn. This weekend marks 4 weeks! I take her out of the box every chance I get, lock her out of the coop, gather eggs every day, etc., but she's just not willing to give up. I guess it's time for the cage treatment.

 

[joan1708]

My silkies lay their eggs in a corner of the coop, they never used the nest, so I took it out. So now I have the broody who wants to sit in the corner, with another silkie sitting keeping her company. I locked her out of the coop. I made her sit in cold water twice. I let her run around the side yard for awhile. She's still broody. Now I've put plastic hardware cloth under the roost and above her nesting spot, so air will get to her underside if she sits there. I hope that is like putting her in a wire crate, only she is still with her peeps. And I don't have to keep going out there to put her back on the roost. do ya think it will work?

 

[kimntep]

That should work, but I finally resorted to putting Mary in a crate and it only took two days. She'll likely be back at it in a month or so! How's it going?