Broody Hen Thread!

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FarmerMac said:
I have two hens that are sisters and my "go to" broody if I don't use the incubator, I didn't want to hatch more chicks this year but they would not stop the broodiness so I gave then 4 eggs each. One hatched two and the other one hatched three. Here they are with their mixed flock chicks.

Click to expand...

So cute.
smile.png
 
Okay Broody hen question for anyone... I have a little broody chicken (picture below) on my hands - inherited, so not certain of breed or age, but believe she is the oldest of 3 hens we have, and believe she no longer lays eggs, well, very rarely. Last September she went broody and sat on the other chickens eggs for a month and it came to nought. She is at it again, with the other chickens laying their eggs in her nest and she sits/broods on them.

I checked the eggs after 2 weeks, and they are not incubated. So I have taken the eggs in hope of breaking the brood, but to no avail. The other two continue to lay in the nest and she continues to sit on them. We are back up to 5 eggs already, so I am looking for suggestions on how to break her brood.

I have read about putting her in an elevated wire cage to forestall the heat, but no cage available. I do have ice packs though, as others have recommended. Anyway, before I try anything, I thought I would pitch this out there and see what people feel is best to do.

 
Alycea said:
Okay Broody hen question for anyone... I have a little broody chicken (picture below) on my hands - inherited, so not certain of breed or age, but believe she is the oldest of 3 hens we have, and believe she no longer lays eggs, well, very rarely. Last September she went broody and sat on the other chickens eggs for a month and it came to nought. She is at it again, with the other chickens laying their eggs in her nest and she sits/broods on them.

I checked the eggs after 2 weeks, and they are not incubated. So I have taken the eggs in hope of breaking the brood, but to no avail. The other two continue to lay in the nest and she continues to sit on them. We are back up to 5 eggs already, so I am looking for suggestions on how to break her brood.

I have read about putting her in an elevated wire cage to forestall the heat, but no cage available. I do have ice packs though, as others have recommended. Anyway, before I try anything, I thought I would pitch this out there and see what people feel is best to do.

Click to expand...
This is probably a silly question, but you didn't mention whether you have a rooster or not. If you don't, of course no eggs will be fertile that she sits on. Some people do not know this, so I just thought I'd mention it.

As to breaking her of being broody, we also have a pullet that goes broody at the drop of the hat. This is her fourth broody cycle since March. I would let her have some eggs, but she killed all the chicks in her first hatch, so I'm not willing to let her hatch any more eggs at this point.

Right now, I just let her sit in the nesting box during the day and take her out periodically to eat and drink and put her in the coop at night.She seems to go for a week or two being seriously broody and then will taper off. It doesn't help that we constantly have other girls going broody and hatching chicks around her. I do feel sorry for her, it's sad to have a broody that doesn't get to have chicks.
 
Alycea said:
Okay Broody hen question for anyone... I have a little broody chicken (picture below) on my hands - inherited, so not certain of breed or age, but believe she is the oldest of 3 hens we have, and believe she no longer lays eggs, well, very rarely. Last September she went broody and sat on the other chickens eggs for a month and it came to nought. She is at it again, with the other chickens laying their eggs in her nest and she sits/broods on them.

I checked the eggs after 2 weeks, and they are not incubated. So I have taken the eggs in hope of breaking the brood, but to no avail. The other two continue to lay in the nest and she continues to sit on them. We are back up to 5 eggs already, so I am looking for suggestions on how to break her brood.

I have read about putting her in an elevated wire cage to forestall the heat, but no cage available. I do have ice packs though, as others have recommended. Anyway, before I try anything, I thought I would pitch this out there and see what people feel is best to do.
Click to expand...
I'd take the eggs instead of letting her build up a new clutch.
She's got quite a comb! I actually thought it was a roo at first glance.
 
chicksurreal said:
This is probably a silly question, but you didn't mention whether you have a rooster or not. If you don't, of course no eggs will be fertile that she sits on. Some people do not know this, so I just thought I'd mention it.

As to breaking her of being broody, we also have a pullet that goes broody at the drop of the hat. This is her fourth broody cycle since March. I would let her have some eggs, but she killed all the chicks in her first hatch, so I'm not willing to let her hatch any more eggs at this point.

Right now, I just let her sit in the nesting box during the day and take her out periodically to eat and drink and put her in the coop at night.She seems to go for a week or two being seriously broody and then will taper off. It doesn't help that we constantly have other girls going broody and hatching chicks around her. I do feel sorry for her, it's sad to have a broody that doesn't get to have chicks.
Click to expand...

Good point! Yes, we do have a Cockerel. We would actually like little chicks, but think our little brown chicken is too old. There is some thought is she is 3 or 4 years at least. Last September's eggs were not incubated, and ditto this year. (And it is not for lack of the Cockerel trying.)

She does come out every day for about 20 minutes, when the temperature gets warm enough, and as a good run around, talk to herself, eat like mad and a little dust bath, before back she goes and into her stupor. She lost a lot of weight last year, and I can see her diminishing in size again this year. And there is not a lot of her to begin with.
 
Alycea said:
Good point! Yes, we do have a Cockerel. We would actually like little chicks, but think our little brown chicken is too old. There is some thought is she is 3 or 4 years at least. Last September's eggs were not incubated, and ditto this year. (And it is not for lack of the Cockerel trying.)

She does come out every day for about 20 minutes, when the temperature gets warm enough, and as a good run around, talk to herself, eat like mad and a little dust bath, before back she goes and into her stupor. She lost a lot of weight last year, and I can see her diminishing in size again this year. And there is not a lot of her to begin with.
Click to expand...
Poor girl. It seems like some girls just want to be broody all the time. I haven't tried putting our perpetual broody in a broody breaker cage, but she's young and healthy and eats like a horse, so I don't worry too much about her, in your situation I'd be more concerned.

Have you checked to see what percentage of the eggs are actually fertilized? We have a Rooster who is very large and he has 26 hens right now. I've had 7 or 8 girls be broody this year and only have 12 chicks to show for the 100+ eggs we have set between them. Turns out that our roo is only fertilizing about 40% of the eggs, some of the girls are just too small for him. He tries like mad, but can't accomplish it with the short girls. Lol!
 
chicksurreal said:
Poor girl. It seems like some girls just want to be broody all the time. I haven't tried putting our perpetual broody in a broody breaker cage, but she's young and healthy and eats like a horse, so I don't worry too much about her, in your situation I'd be more concerned.

Have you checked to see what percentage of the eggs are actually fertilized? We have a Rooster who is very large and he has 26 hens right now. I've had 7 or 8 girls be broody this year and only have 12 chicks to show for the 100+ eggs we have set between them. Turns out that our roo is only fertilizing about 40% of the eggs, some of the girls are just too small for him. He tries like mad, but can't accomplish it with the short girls. Lol!
Click to expand...

Awww. Bless. Not sure how you check the percentage of fertilized eggs, so any instructions welcome. Not bothered if he can't as he is magnificent in other ways. He is the proper King of our garden. We prefer having eggs, but would not be upset if we had chicks.
 

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