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Broody Hen...please help!

Discussion in 'Chicken Behaviors and Egglaying' started by txajackson, Jul 5, 2011.

Most Liked Posts
  1. Jul 5, 2011 #1
    txajackson

    txajackson Out Of The Brooder

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    I have a hen that is a year old. She is a mixed hen and when not broody a great layer. But about the last 3 months she is continually broody. Currently we are going on about a month straight. We have dunked her in cold water several times a day. We have crated her for 3-4 days at a time. She is so stubborn. I throw her out of the box several times a day and she'll stay out for 30 minutes or so and then goes right back up. The other hens of course like to lay in one nest and it gets backed up and there have been many occasions I find the 4 of them laying on eachother. Normally i would get 4 eggs a day. Now its 1-2 a day if im lucky. She has thrown everybody off!!! The other hens are now pecking her because they are so aggrevated with her too!!!
    Help! I dont know what to do!!!
     
  3. Jul 5, 2011 #2
    GoldenSparrow

    GoldenSparrow Chillin' With My Peeps

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    sounds like she REALLY wants to have chicks.
    I would let her hatch, if you dont want to because the 50% rooster thing,
    you could buy some at a hatchery and have her adopt. [​IMG]

    sorry if I dont have the answer your looking for. [​IMG]
     
  5. Jul 5, 2011 #3
    txajackson

    txajackson Out Of The Brooder

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    I am a teacher and we hatched eggs in an incubator in April. We introduced her(and the others) to the babies within a few days of them hatching and she seemed aggressive and tried to peck the babies. Within a couple days of meeting the babies she went into this perpetual state of broodiness she is in now.
    I am new to chicken keeping and I am not real familar with how to let her sit on eggs. Would this cure her of her broodiness or will she just start over again if I let her hatch?
     
  7. Jul 5, 2011 #4
    FarmCoe

    FarmCoe Flock Mistress

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    Thanks for the idea! I'm going to start dunking really broody hens in cold water! [​IMG]

    As for advice... Sorry I got nothin' [​IMG]
     
  9. Jul 5, 2011 #5
    Judy

    Judy Moderator Staff Member

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    Usually, the surest cure for broodiness is giving them eggs to hatch or chicks. I've had one reject chicks, too, but usually they will accept them if the chicks are a day or two old, not much more, and you sneak them under her at night, well after dark.

    It sounds like it would be simplest to have separate housing for her, whether for sitting on eggs or to break the broodiness. Do you by chance have a slab of concrete you could confine her to, with no roost or nesting material? It would be worth a try toward breaking the broodiness. To get her to hatch eggs all you really need is fertile eggs, and a place for her to sit on them. If you create a space for her to hatch, try to make it large enough that she has to walk around some in order to eat and drink.

    She should return to laying after hatching and raising chicks -- they usually "mother" the chicks for 4 or 5 weeks then kick them out of the house. Now, whether she will lay for months at that point, or only a week or two, then return to being broody, is anyone's guess.

    I have two broodies now. I've pretty well given up trying to break them except with eggs or chicks. I take them off the nest when I'm there, which is usually 3 or 4 times a day, and when they give up, they give up. I once had one stay broody for four MONTHS. Only hatching out chicks worked.
     
  11. Jul 5, 2011 #6
    Jeevesrules

    Jeevesrules Chillin' With My Peeps

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    If shes not accepting them at day, put some fake eggs under her for a few days and then put some day old chicks under her when it is FULLY dark. chickens cannot see well in the dark and bond with chicks through hearing their peeps.
    hopefully that works!! [​IMG]
     
  13. Jul 5, 2011 #7
    Lucysmom002

    Lucysmom002 Chillin' With My Peeps

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    I just posted somewhere on here today. My little broody bantam did this too. She did it for 3 months. Finally I gave her some fertile eggs to sit on. She hatched 2 babies and now she's happy. She stopped laying and went broody in Feb. She just laid her first egg today!

    She did lose some weight while she was broody.
     
  15. Jul 5, 2011 #8
    txajackson

    txajackson Out Of The Brooder

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    Well I guess Im going to try to let her hatch. I truely feel bad for her. She is just doing what God made her to do. The other hens are very mad at her. They are sisters and have always gotten along beautifully till now.

    Thanks for all the advice!
     

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