broodiness

[abceekids]

do chickens get over it? we have one that wont let anyone near her eggs. she won't eat and started banging her head til it bled. we r totally distraught!

 

[Illia]

What do you mean by banging her head?


If she's not brooding over anything it depends on her breed and strain if she'll get over it. Best thing to do is confine her in a place with no nesting box for a few days, and she'll break free of the habit.

 

[NixNoodleNumbat]

Don't worry, hens get over their broodiness eventually. But if she's banging her head, I think there might be something wrong.

 

[abceekids]

i dont know - my husband said he saw her cleaning her beak and hitting herself pretty hard on the nesting box. i saw some blood on the wood. she's a orphington & so pretty but losing weight. my favorite bird

 

[PtldChick]

You might be able to break her of being broody by giving her a cold water bath, and I mean cold, it brings their body temperature down. followed by a low blow dry at this time of year to prevent freezing. Then keep her away from the nest boxes, shut the coop for the day if it's not too cold for the others. there's a thread, or several, on this if you do a search.

Another method is to put her in a wire crate or cage with only the wire floor and no shavings and off the ground so air circulates underneath. When she sits, her breast is cooled (same principle as above). Keep her in there with food and water until she's no longer sitting and wants to get out of the cage!

 

[centrarchid]

To break broodiness, do as Ilia indicates. Otherwise, hen will come off nest each day for an hour or so to take a poo, eat and drink therefore make sure such resources are available. If social problems, then make so other birds can not approach nest site.

Weight loss is typicall and may be required to promote chick survival. My hens drop 25% of the pre-broody weight. Hen overweight is more apt to attempt re-nesting before first brood is ready for independence. Weight will be lowest during first week or so following hatch of chicks.

 

[kenhansen]

I also took Illia's advice and it worked great! I put the broody hen in a separate pen for two days. No nesting material. Just food and water. When I brought her back to the hen house I banded one of her legs with a colored plastic wire tie so I could easily tell her from the rest. She goes back to her same nesting box, lays her egg then gets back out in the run. I was hoping this would work as it is easy and not too troubling to the hen. Great advice!