Breaking a Broody? **Update: She's cured!!!***

[rachelrulz]

I just want to know the quickest and most humane way to break a broody.

***UPDATED***


She's cured!!!!!!
No wire cages or anything needed!!! I just locked her (and her friends) outside all day for 2-3 weeks, only letting them back in at night.

She's not a fluffy Buffy anymore! XDDDDD

 

[Rachelann]

Put her in a cage with a wire bottom, alone with no nest box. Put the cage on blocks so it is raised off the floor. Give her food and water and leave her there for a week or so. By that time she will be "broke" and ready to go back with the others. Hope that helps!

 

[AlienChick]

Sometimes putting cold eggs (from the refrigerator) underneath her will cause her to lose interest.

Good luck!

 

[teach1rusl]

I'm lucky in that I have two coops, so I just toss them out and shut the door - the others have to lay in the other coop. That's always worked for me. If I didn't have that option, I'd use the wire crate method...

 

[mondotomhead]

Put her in a cage with a wire bottom, alone with no nest box. Put the cage on blocks so it is raised off the floor. Give her food and water and leave her there for a week or so. By that time she will be "broke" and ready to go back with the others. Hope that helps!

Where do you put her when she's in the wire cage. Can she still be with the others in the coop? Or does she have to be alone?

 

[Rachelann]

You can leave her in the coop if you have the room. She just needs to be in a raised cage with a wire bottom (no bedding) so she cant nest. I actually have moved mine to the garage for a few days because I didnt have room in the coop for another cage. It doent really matter either way. Just be sure it properly reintroduce her to the flock if you move her from the coop. I have had 100% success with this method.

 

[dawnangel]

We placed our broody hen in a wire cage close to the hangout of the other girls. we'd let her out for a little bit just as the other hens bedded down to roost.. and when she didn't get back out in the morning and stayed sitting... she went back into the cage. The idea is to cool her belly down because she gets hormonal as she heats up to keep those babies warm. We even dunked her in some cold water a couple times. When she got out on her own in the mornings we let her stay out of the cage, and she eventually stopped going back to sit after being kicked out once or twice. It only took 3 days in the cage before she was back with her fellow hens, and about a week later she was laying eggs again as normal. I think it helped that we don't have a rooster so she might have been as determined as a hen getting lucky.

 

[Kittyf]

It took my pair of Speckled Sussex 4 days in the cage, with occassional dunking of their undersides in a tub of cold water, but they broke broodiness. Then they resumed laying after a few days (although resuming laying can take longer is some hens)

Kate

 

[rachelrulz]

It took my pair of Speckled Sussex 4 days in the cage, with occassional dunking of their undersides in a tub of cold water, but they broke broodiness. Then they resumed laying after a few days (although resuming laying can take longer is some hens)

Kate

How cold does the water have to be?

Like does it have to be ice water? Or can it be just some water from the hose?

 

[g&a thomas]

This has worked for us twice. We placed a broody in a crate and put her in the back of the truck and went for a drive around town. The first time was by accident, we were moving hens from a friends house who didn't want them anymore ... one was broody. The next time I did it on purpose to break another one that wanted to peck hands and fingers. Not sure if it is the air circulating under/around them the vibration of the truck ride or the reintegration when we bring them back. Either way, success with minnimal time and energy.