Broody hen help

[happyhens1972]

There are a few other things you can try....if and ONLY IF your weather is warm enough, you can remove her from the box and dip her underside in cool water. She will not return to the nest (usually!) when wet so will have to spend time preening herself dry again, taking her mind off the sitting and physically preventing her from doing so.

An ice pack slipped under her, wrapped to ensure she doesn't get frost burn, can help. A broody is encouraged by the warm, cosy feel of the nest and eggs beneath her and a coldpack can be very off-putting.

I have broken broodies in a cardboard box before now....a large one, mind you! No bedding, no nesting material, nothing...just food and water. I did it once with the hen alone and once by putting a rather bossy non-broody companion hen with her....bossy enough to keep her 'on her toes' but not bossy enough to bully. I put the box in my kitchen for a few days so that the 'traffic' of people coming and going kept their mind off brooding by basically not giving them the peace and quiet they are after or the ability to nest.

Be warned though, some girls are VERY persistent!!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Toss her into a tall pen with nothing else but a virile 2 year old rooster who has not been with a hen in a month or two and he will keep the hen sitting on the roost poll so much that the cooling effect is just like her being in a wire cage. You'll have to trust me on this but it works.

 

[Geordiefi]

Hi,
Broodys are a pain, but only doing what nature intends to do, however my neighbouring chicken friends have used the cold bath method, when you pick your girl up she will be really hot on her underside and using the wire box cools her down, in the case of not having a box/cage to do this, dipping in a bath of cold water a few times brings the heat down and has worked for my friends.
I have two girls and are real brooders so getting some eggs for them to hatch, a mix of White Sussex and Polish. Fingers crossed.

 

[LadyCluckington]

I like the water bath suggestions. I might try that. Today I decided to push her out of the coop and close the door so she couldn't get back to the nesting box. I'm not sure if a couple of hours in the run will cool her down or not. Probably not... I'll try the water bath next.

Toss her into a tall pen with nothing else but a virile 2 year old rooster who has not been with a hen in a month or two and he will keep the hen sitting on the roost poll so much that the cooling effect is just like her being in a wire cage. You'll have to trust me on this but it works.

Lol...If I had a rooster then I'd have fertilized eggs and wouldn't be in this predicament in the first place! but thanks

 

[Bellavista]

I'm having the same problem with my Partridge Rock. She is frequently on he nest but gets down when I feed. She is always puffed up and making growling/grumbling noises. We don't have a roo and I really don't want chicks. Do I have to remove her from where our other 4 hens are and put her in a wire cage, or do I just put her in a wire cage with food and water in the coop/run that we have? How long does it take to break the cycle?

 

[sharonmorrell]

I kept mine in the wire cage in with the other chickens. I left her in there for 3 days and it seemed to do the trick! I didn't have any problems reintroducing her, either, which I read could happen when she returns from her "isolation cage". I don't know if that was because the other girls could still see her or not, but it made sense to me!

 

[Nocila]

Sorry for being so late in my response, but when I have a broody hen, I tend to let her be broody for about two weeks or so, then graft chicks to her. That way, the hen gets what she wants, and she won't be broody as long, lessening the damage done to her, just a thought.

 

[LadyCluckington]

Thanks for the help and suggestions everyone. It looks like we finally broke her. I just kept putting her out into the run and closed off the nesting boxes after the other ladies layed their eggs in the morning. Eventually she gave up.