Broody hen + infertile eggs=?

[TCCL]

One of my year old hens is broody and sitting on INFERTILE eggs. She is very determined in continuing this. I tried taking the eggs away and she became Extremely distraught. Even worse, this in turn made my household members see me as a complete and total monster.

What will happen to her if I do nothing about it? Will she nest until she wastes away?

Suggestions on handling this?

 

[TCCL]

Forgive my newbieness. I now strongly suspect that the definition of “broody hen” always involves either non existent or infertile eggs and that’s why it’s a problem. Yes?

My question stands. What will happen if I don’t put a stop to it?

 

[Sparrowsong98]

I always just grabbed the eggs every night until she quit with that phase. Usually after 2 or so months of you taking them, they stop sitting. It is not a bad thing at all to take her eggs because she cannot hatch anything since they are infertile and will just be wasting the eggs by sitting there until they rot. And yes, she will be distraught but she will get over it.

 

[Sparrowsong98]

I always just grabbed the eggs every night until she quit with that phase. Usually after 2 or so months of you taking them, they stop sitting. It is not a bad thing at all to take her eggs because she cannot hatch anything since they are infertile and will just be wasting the eggs by sitting there until they rot. And yes, she will be distraught but she will get over it.

 

[TCCL]

I always just grabbed the eggs every night until she quit with that phase.

I’m embarrased to admit she’s been sitting on a fair number of eggs for a while now. Do you think the numbers matter? In that would it be easier on her to remove maybe one or two eggs a day until the nest is empty, versus taking the whole lot at once?

 

[Ladybird CA]

Some hens do ok but I’ve read of extreme cases such as one where the hen sat 5 months and died. Why not buy one female chick at the feed store to let her raise?

 

[Ladybird CA]

Broody is a term for a hen wanting to hatch eggs, whether they are fertile or not. If you have a space or city limit could probably let her raise a couple of chicks and maybe rehome them when they are a bit older? I’ve also read of people breaking the broody hen by putting her in a cage with a wire bottom. My mom was able to break her broody by taking away eggs too

 

[TCCL]

Some hens do ok but I’ve read of extreme cases such as one where the hen sat 5 months and died. Why not buy one female chick at the feed store to let her raise?

I didn’t know that a hen would automatically accept and raise a chick she hasn’t hatched.

 

[chuckachucka]

Remove the eggs at night while she is sleeping to avoid being pecked, then remove the hen from he nest and shut her out. It will upset her but the only way to break a hens broodiness is to keep her from sitting on the eggs.

A hen goes broody when her hormones tell her it' time to become a mother, and they don' know if their eggs are fertile or not but will usually continue to sit for a long time in hope of them hatching. Usually they give up eventually , bit it just takes a lot out of them health-wise so it is not good for them to sit too long.

You should try to simply shut her out of the nest and see if this breaks her broodiNess. It may take a couple of days or evwn longer. Some hens are very stubborn and will just sit on the ground outside the nest, imagining they are still on their eggs. Keep shoving them outside with the flock and if they persist in sitting around you will have to make a 'broody breaker' which is a crate or cage of some sort with a wire mesh type bottom and which is elevated off the floor such as on a few bricks etc. This allows cool air to circulate under he hen to prevent her keeping her underside warm and causes her to give up brooding.

Or you could just give her a chick or two!

 

[Ladybird CA]

Most of mine have, all of my silkies did. The only hen that had a problem was a bantam barred frizzle Cochin so I gave the chicks to a silkier which gladly accepted them. Some say to introduce at night but I worried something might happen so I introduced the chicks early in the morning when it was still a bit dark out but light enough for me to see the hen’s reaction to the chicks and checked on them every few hours since it was on a weekend