Brody Hen

[brianp]

I have 4 laying hens... no roosters. Well my 10 month old Black Cooper Maran mix has already become brody. This is the first time I've had to deal with this. I've tried taking the eggs away and putting here out to free range with the others and she goes right back. When she is out free ranging she blows up like a Gobbler turkey and clucks. The other chickens treat her like an outcast now she even sleeps on the nest. What can I do to stop this?

 

[Jeevesrules]

When a chicken goes broody her body temperature increases by a few degrees and she will stay broody for as long as her temperature is raised. In order to 'break' her broodiness you need to cool her body down to normal.

There are a few things you can try:

Try dunking her belly in a bucket of cold water for a minute or so, then put her down. If she heads back towards her nest, do it again, and keep doing It until she stops. This has worked for me but generally only works early on in her broodiness.

Another thing to do is place her in a wire cage a few feet off the ground with no nesting material. Make sure there is airflow in the cage, as this will decrease her temperature. Make sure she has food and water. She will needs to be in there a few days.

You could try and completely block her off from her nest, this has worked for me before, but it was in the first hour or so of broodiness.

Whatever you do, make sure you do it as soon as possible, as the longer she is broody, the harder it will ecome to break her.

Hope this helps!!

 

[elmo]

I would definitely never dunk any chicken in cold water, especially with cooler temperatures coming around. I think that method of "breaking" a broody is an old farmer's tale, anyway.

You can try isolating the hen for a couple of days away from anything that she can use as a nest. A wire cage will certainly work for that purpose. But some hens are so determined that the minute you put them back someplace that they can nest, they'll go back to being broody. We have one hen, Billina, who is like this, and she'll happily brood for three weeks even without a single egg to sit on. So I just monitor her weight and let her do her thing.

 

[justin24]

try to find some rggs that are fretile

 

[christineavatar]

I had my first hen go broody in May and I was only able to break her a week ago so speed is the right answer. The way I was able to break the broodiness is by isolating her in an old dog cage that I cut the bottom out of and put a screen over the hole to let air get in. I put the cage on a patio table that had a grill top so that air could get through. I put ice packs between the cage and the screen and kept them cold. After about five days I stopped trying and put her back with the other birds and, although she still clucked like a 'broody' she stopped sitting on eggs.

 

[Collins Chicks]

I am new to all this too, I have a Japanese hen that is brody. When I get her she had hatched two chicks and now she has been in the nest box for 24 hours. The first night i was able to get her to move and get eggs. Last night she would not move, she was in full on attack mode. My husband said we should get some fertile eggs for her to hatch. Is it to cool for chicks in the fall and winter, and will the other hens hurt the chicks?

 

[chickens really]

Hello!
I have a 7 month old Red rock cross that also has gone broody. She plucks her chest feathers out for her nest. Everyday she waits for the other hens to lay in the nest box and then she jumps in deposits her own egg and tries to keep them all.
What I do is leave her two hours and then put on gloves and put her outside. I close the pop door for an hour or so. She will run in and look in the nest box for the eggs.
As long as the eggs are gone my hen/pullet gets on with her day. I am sure next spring she will go into full blown broodiness.
If she gets any worse I will also be putting her in a crate during the day and only let her out to roost at night.
Silly Chicken!