Broody hen in WINTER?!

[CreativeChicken08]

Soo, one of our light Brahmas, Nikki, is either egg bound or broody. If I ever move her, minutes later she’s back in the nesting box! If she IS broody, is it safe to let her hatch some eggs, or should we not put any eggs under her?? I live in Oklahoma and it gets pretty cold here in the winter, but we have an insulated coop and could possibly put a heating lamp in if we wish to.
We’ve never had a broody hen before, and we don’t need any more chicks!!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Sounds like she's broody. Eggbound birds don't really care a out getting to the box, they're just desperate to get the egg out however possible.

It could work, or it could not. I've had a few chicks make it in winter here. But ive also lost a lot. It depends a lot on how many she hatches and how good a mother she is.

 

[Kingbobkingdom]

Soo, one of our light Brahmas, Nikki, is either egg bound or broody. If I ever move her, minutes later she’s back in the nesting box! If she IS broody, is it safe to let her hatch some eggs, or should we not put any eggs under her?? I live in Oklahoma and it gets pretty cold here in the winter, but we have an insulated coop and could possibly put a heating lamp in if we wish to.
We’ve never had a broody hen before, and we don’t need any more chicks!!

It sounds like Nikki is broody. If you don't want any more chicks, then you can continuously remove the eggs from under her or keep her from the nesting box. I have friends that put their broody chicken in a dog cage with food and water for a few days.
You can decide for her to hatch the chicks, but it's definitely going to be harder, with it being winter and all.

 

[rosemarythyme]

we don’t need any more chicks!!

I would break her then, no reason to let her hatch simply because she's broody.

Setting up a breaker: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/broody-breaking-ala-aart.77915/

 

[Sally PB]

I did the breaker crate ala Aart. It has worked every time I need to break my serial broody. Ususally 3-4 days, max.