my buff orpington went broody this spring and i gave her eggs to hatch just for fun. about a week ago she went broody again and now i want her to lay eggs instead of hatching eggs. what im asking for is how to break her, ive tried throwing (not literally) her off the nest every time i go out there and she stays off for awhile then just gets back on. Ive also tried putting her on a perch after its dark and she cant see or get down and she stays there all night just to get back on at the first light. what has everyone else done to break a broody? ive heard of putting them in warm water or something, does that work? thanks...
I haven't had a lot of experience with broodies--we just got our first broody a few weeks ago, and I'm still waiting to see if she can successfully hatch a brood. I have heard of many techniques, though, including putting the broody in an empty crate with no material to nest in for a day or two.
Putting them in a wire cage for a few days with no nesting materials seems to be quite an effective method. It takes on average 3-4 days to break them with this method, though really stubborn broodies can take a bit longer.
All the methods boil down to one important thing. They all keep the hen off the nest 24 hours a day for about 3 full days. We don't use a box or cage we just have a part of the run sectioned off so they can't get to the nest. Late afternoon we lock the nestbox up then let them in with everyone else again. In the morning we open the nest box so its easy to catch them and then pick them up out if it and put them back into the other area. This has always fixed the problem after the third day except for one determined run by our silkie that went for 8 days. They have to be kept off 24 hrs a day though or you go back to square 1.
Agreed. No feeling bad for them and putting them back in the coop with their nest for any reason for at least three days, sometimes more. We either cage them in a wire-bottomed cage or throw them in the pullet pen if it's available, so they can't get back to the nest box. Have you read the articles on breaking a broody in the BYC Learning Center? The Learning Center is always the first place I go when I need to figure something out. Another method is to order some really expensive hatching eggs for them to sit on. They'll stop being broody about five minutes after the money leaves your bank account!
thanks, everyone i'll try that. i have an old parakeet cage thats pretty big that ive used as a brooder before and for transporting adult chickens that i could use and i could let her out in the run every once in a while.
