Broody Hen Questions

[Sienatiger]

If a hen was broody for 21 days, and no chicks hatched, would she stay broody for another 21 days if I gave her more eggs?

 

[Pork Pie]

Maybe or maybe not, but I would ask myself whether having her sit for another 3 weeks is the best thing to do in terms of her health. Broody hens lose a lot of condition and weight and can lower their effectiveness to fight off illness. Your choice, obviously, but not something I would do to one of my flock.

 

[Shaunassy]

It depends on the bird, mine was broody 2-1/2 monthes and like CTken said, they loose alot of weight which can hurt their health. Even though i took my broody of the nest 3+ times a day to eat, drink, and poo she was looking ruff. You have two options, try to "break" her broody mood by one of many methods or slip day old chicks under her after its completely dark and remove all eggs from under her. If you dont remove all the eggs she will sit amd "wait" for the eggs to hatch
The chicks can go up to 3 days without food and water but by 3 days the mom will see there is no more eggs and get the babies out of the nest and fed and waterered.

If you decided to break her of being broody be warned, it may not work if she wants to be a mom bad enough. I tried locking mine out of the coop all day, removing the eggs daily, sitting her in a bucket of cold water to cool down her vent and snap her out of it, and tried putting her in an elevated crate with a wire floor(to allow air to her vent to cool) with nothing but food and water and it didnt work. So for her health in the cover of night i gave her chicks in which she successfully adopted them.
Here she is with them when I first got them

 

[aart]

Giving her day old chicks would be a better option, but may be hard to find this time of year.

But considering the rest of the story,
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1133965/hatching-horror-story-mystery#post_17544058
she may not protect them?

It could definitely be hard on her health to have her sit another 21 days.
Might be better to break her broodiness.

 

[Sienatiger]

Thanks so much for your help! It sounds like he right thing to do it break her broodiness. I don't think I can get chicks this time of year, but I will do a few other things and hope it works. This is just a question out of curiosity: would she break her broodiness on her own? I read somewhere that after 21 days they just stop. Thanks again!!

 

[Pork Pie]

I'm no expert, but I have read that they will eventually snap out of it. Generally speaking, its probably better to speed up the process for the health of you hen - others may well disagree.

 

[aart]

Thanks so much for your help! It sounds like he right thing to do it break her broodiness. I don't think I can get chicks this time of year, but I will do a few other things and hope it works. This is just a question out of curiosity: would she break her broodiness on her own? I read somewhere that after 21 days they just stop. Thanks again!!

They will if they hatch chicks....well, they stay 'broody' in the sense that they won't mate or lay eggs again until the chicks are 'weaned', they sleep with the chicks and spend a lot of time with them until weaning.

I'm no expert, but I have read that they will eventually snap out of it. Generally speaking, its probably better to speed up the process for the health of you hen - others may well disagree.

I agree.

 

[rebrascora]

It's worth mentioning that sometimes for a variety of reasons, the eggs don't hatch on day 21, so I would give them until day 23 or 24 to be sure before you ditch them. Otherwise I would agree with the other posters and break her broodiness. It's quite likely that she will go broody again, but maybe not until next year.

 

[Little Fuzzy]

Interesting question and thanks for the good answer.

 

[Little Fuzzy]

I hoped my Wyandotte would snap out of it but after too months she was very thin so I bought the cage. Best advise I ever got from this WEB site. After two nights in the chicken jail and locked out of run during the days she lost the mood.