Best to let a repeat broody hatch something?

[buWugaloo]

We have one hen that goes broody just about every other month year round. We've never let her hatch anything, but are debating it now, wondering if actually letting her follow through will break the habit. Does anyone have any anecdotal experience with this sort of situation? She's a pretty big and flighty blue Andalusian and putting her in broody jail every other month is an ordeal I'd like to go through less if possible.

 

[Mrs. K]

I have no idea how you resist a broody hen. I always give them either eggs or chicks. You get such a good chicken society with chicks raised in the flock. But I am comfortable with removing birds from my flock too, and if you add you need to subtract.

I currently have Mrs. Feathers and as we spent the last 8 days over 108, (Thank God it is cooler today) I just did not feel like I could confine her... so I am looking for chicks.

I have no anecdotal stories, but hens that tend to go broody, go broody...you might sell her as a good broody hen.

Mrs K

 

[aart]

We have one hen that goes broody just about every other month year round. We've never let her hatch anything, but are debating it now, wondering if actually letting her follow through will break the habit. Does anyone have any anecdotal experience with this sort of situation? She's a pretty big and flighty blue Andalusian and putting her in broody jail every other month is an ordeal I'd like to go through less if possible.

If you have space for more birds, or can sell them, go ahead and let her hatch.
Guessing that as often as she goes broody, it won't stop just will put off the nest broody period.

Had a serial broody even after I let her hatch.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I have no reason to believe that letting her hatch eggs and raise chicks will cause her to stop going broody so often. That doesn't mean it won't, just that I have nothing to support that theory. Like Aart, from what I've seen it doesn't work every time.

I try to encourage people to try these things themselves. If you can handle some male and female chicks try it and let us know what you think.

 

[5 Points Wingfeather]

This is 100 percent anecdotal, and we’ve only had chickens for a year so I don’t have much experience BUT,

We had two (of seven!) of our young girls go broody. I let the first one hatch and it went great and she hasn’t gone broody again and she hatched like 5 months ago. When the second went broody I kept getting her off the nest cause we already had chicks and didn’t want more. Well i finally left her 4 eggs and she hatched them but I had to take chicks from her cause she wasn’t a good mama and another hen almost killed one of her babies. She has kept trying to go broody over and over again and in my mind it’s because she “didn’t get it out of her system”.

That’s just 2 chickens out of the billions and billions of them and it’s just one story but in my mind you are on to something. Just from my limited experience

 

[Happy hen lover]

I had one BA that went broody this last spring. Well I already had too many chicks (7) in an isolated part of coop.
Well chicken math being being what it is, I got the BRILLIANT of getting her some young chicks from farm store. Husband in tow I search out the selection at our 2 farm stores. Oh my the one is selling Ameracaunas! I think to myself colored eggs!! Bonus. MY dear hubby falls for the cute little ones with cool stripe down their back! I think to my self " this is working out GREAT" So at the clerks advice I dive in and swoop up a few Okay 4 but who's counting we need different colored ones to tell them apart right? So we go home and stuff under the broody black growly hen. Well they love the warmness under her but after a day they jump out and start to look for food and water.! Well she's so new or their too old we give up and put them in a brooder with other chicks. I had made a small opening in chicken wire wall ( that seperated coop in half) for the 8 week olds to get through and explore their new digs.
Well you guessed it she shoves her HUGE feathered self to the other side! Okay we'll try it again. Maybe if we isolate her and chicks in corner of brooder area. Well.l.l she flips out flys out and flips out all chicks . Mind you this was while my hubby was chick sitting! So he crawls in gets broody DUNKS HER!, repairs hole, and separated all chicks from hens. So IMHO get EGGS not chicks. That's my story if you've made it this far thanks for letting me ramble on.

 

[buWugaloo]

I had one BA that went broody this last spring. Well I already had too many chicks (7) in an isolated part of coop.
Well chicken math being being what it is, I got the BRILLIANT of getting her some young chicks from farm store. Husband in tow I search out the selection at our 2 farm stores. Oh my the one is selling Ameracaunas! I think to myself colored eggs!! Bonus. MY dear hubby falls for the cute little ones with cool stripe down their back! I think to my self " this is working out GREAT" So at the clerks advice I dive in and swoop up a few Okay 4 but who's counting we need different colored ones to tell them apart right? So we go home and stuff under the broody black growly hen. Well they love the warmness under her but after a day they jump out and start to look for food and water.! Well she's so new or their too old we give up and put them in a brooder with other chicks. I had made a small opening in chicken wire wall ( that seperated coop in half) for the 8 week olds to get through and explore their new digs.
Well you guessed it she shoves her HUGE feathered self to the other side! Okay we'll try it again. Maybe if we isolate her and chicks in corner of brooder area. Well.l.l she flips out flys out and flips out all chicks . Mind you this was while my hubby was chick sitting! So he crawls in gets broody DUNKS HER!, repairs hole, and separated all chicks from hens. So IMHO get EGGS not chicks. That's my story if you've made it this far thanks for letting me ramble on.

I have fertilized eggs from my rooster

 

[Happy hen lover]

Go for it you might as well see if she is a good Mama .

 

[buWugaloo]

Go for it you might as well see if she is a good Mama .

We just had another broody hatch three, she killed one because she refused to see them as not-eggs. We took the other two and got two pals for them from the feed store, but we've gone ahead and put six fertilized eggs under our serial offender to see how it goes!