Breaking Broody

[GirlsHuntToo]

My Speckled Sussex hen Speckles has recently gone broody. I might not break her… let her have babies. Not sure.

 

[PopoMyers]

My Speckled Sussex hen Speckles has recently gone broody. I might not break her… let her have babies. Not sure.

Just be prepared for half of them being male. Just sayin'.

 

[GirlsHuntToo]

Just be prepared for half of them being male. Just sayin'.

Yeah!

 

[PopoMyers]

Watch, wait and see.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

I have a few hens that just act broody in that same way, it might just be their personality. As long as they are still laying I wouldn't worry too much about it. Some hens just have a natural mother instinct that can tease you into thinking they are broody.

I never thought April would be broody because she never acted like she would want to brood. Usually I can tell who will go broody sometime in their life (the ones who act more feral, forage on their own a lot and ignore chicken feed often, don't like human attention) and who will not (the ones who act less feral, eat chicken feed more instead of foraging, and like human attention). April was a bit of a surprise, I suppose. I carried her off this morning where no one else could see and I fed her an egg because I want her to have enough food. I know chickens can go a while without food and broodies barely eat, but April does not look like she put on any weight before she went broody like they are supposed to do.

 

[Buttercup is the best]

I never thought April would be broody because she never acted like she would want to brood. Usually I can tell who will go broody sometime in their life (the ones who act more feral, forage on their own a lot and ignore chicken feed often, don't like human attention) and who will not (the ones who act less feral, eat chicken feed more instead of foraging, and like human attention). April was a bit of a surprise, I suppose. I carried her off this morning where no one else could see and I fed her an egg because I want her to have enough food. I know chickens can go a while without food and broodies barely eat, but April does not look like she put on any weight before she went broody like they are supposed to do.

Again, it might just be her personality. She might just have a natural mother instinct. I would just keep an eye on her and try not to worry too much.

 

[Fontaine]

I am following along.
I just put my girl in broody jail. She is not happy with me!
Last night I locked her out of the nest and put her on the roost. But as soon as she was able she was right back on the nest so early morning I hauled her off and put her here.
I have never been through this before so am anxious about it.
View attachment 3802106

I am following along.
I just put my girl in broody jail. She is not happy with me!
Last night I locked her out of the nest and put her on the roost. But as soon as she was able she was right back on the nest so early morning I hauled her off and put her here.
I have never been through this before so am anxious about it.
View attachment 3802106

Good luck with your Broody. i’ve had a few that were easy to break and a couple that took days. My worry was they never seem to care about eating or drinking much. I love your containers for food and water. Would you mind telling me where you got them everything I put in gets knocked over in the dog crate! Thanks so much

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Again, it might just be her personality. She might just have a natural mother instinct. I would just keep an eye on her and try not to worry too much.

Thank you. I ended up giving her some medicine that will help boost her energy and health overall because she is acting sick now. I hope she gets better.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I love your containers for food and water. Would you mind telling me where you got them everything I put in gets knocked over in the dog crate! Thanks so much

Those are parrot cups, I use the same ones. Any pet store with a bird section should have similar:

 

[MarlaMac]

I am not sure what to do because I have never experienced something as strange as this. She isn't acting like a normal broody, she is acting more like she is half-broody and half-normal. When I went outside yesterday, April was fine with me and not puffing up her feathers like the day before. I grabbed her and held her, and she actually was falling asleep in my hands. She has never done that since she got out of her sweet stage when she was young. I put her down to go feed the other flock of chickens in the other yard, and after multiple minutes of doing that, I came back to check on April. She was walking around like normal without being puffed out, and she wasn't making as many broody clucks but she still was. For some reason, April would let me pick her up without a problem but she would growl and puff up at any other person who tried to pick her up. She was acting really sleepy and kept falling asleep standing up. I looked in the coop and Autumn (a Buff-Laced Polish) was on a nest laying an egg, so I waited until she was done and collected the five eggs on the nest afterwards. Two Polish eggs, one Sussex egg, one unknown large brown egg that I had never seen there before (the chickens from the other yard keep crossing over so I wouldn't doubt that one laid an egg in there), and one egg from April. That really confused me even more. Broodies don't lay eggs when they are still broody, and neither do they just walk around and do nothing instead of actually sitting on anything, and neither do they let anyone hold them for minutes and fall asleep in a human's hands. In all of my chickens experience, this is really weird, does anyone know what is going on?

Is she being picked on by others? I have a girl who is towards the bottom of the pecking order. When others chase her away she walks around like a broody until the other chicken leaves her alone.