Broody hen w no rooster!

[VictoriaW]

I have a one year old hen that has been broody for about 5 days now. She has been laying on unfertilized eggs and is not eating or drinking that I can see. Should I move her?

 

[justplainbatty]

I have a one year old hen that has been broody for about 5 days now. She has been laying on unfertilized eggs and is not eating or drinking that I can see. Should I move her?

Yes, unless you plan on putting fertilized eggs under her. Brooding is very hard on a hen. The often eat little, are more vulnerable to bugs and shed belly feathers. So, brooding for nothing is something to stop right away! Use the search bar on this site "how to break a broody", lots of great info.

 

[Bocktobery 10]

You don't have to. Eventually, they usually abandon the nest. Even if she sits through the whole time, its not really going to hurt her that much. You could also dismantle the nest if you wanted to stop her. I have heard of people dipping the hen's lower abdomen in cooler water to try and stop her from going broody. The cool water messes with their chest's perfect brooding temperature and I guess, makes them stop. If you do a search, I think you could find some other methods that have been tried to persuade a hen not to be broody. I've never stopped a broody, but I have had only one hen become broody twice.

Personally, if it were me (and I'd be celebrating if I had a broody) I'd purchase some hatching eggs and put them under her! Great fun!

 

[VictoriaW]

Thanks for responses!

 

[aart]

If you don't want her to hatch something, I'd break her....some hens can deteriorate their health if not eating and drinking daily.

My experience went like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest, I put her in a wire dog crate with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a few bricks right in the coop and I would feed her some watered down crumble a couple times a day.

I let her out a couple times a day and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two.