Broody hen. What can I do?

[BigBlueHen53]

My BO were, as I said, persistent and repetitive broodies. Giving or selling them to others who wanted them to be broody would have been a cruelty. They were losing weight and condition to the point of starving themselves. They would sit on golf balls or empty nests, didn't matter, poor things. Good luck. I'm out.

 

[Ilovesilkiechickens1]

Oh, perhaps there is a misunderstanding. We do not leave her there three days non-stop. We let her out to exercise, poop, dust-bathe. If she then runs right back to the nest, we know she is not done being broody. It is a large enough crate that she can move around, probably more than she would while on the nest, and she is where she can see and hear her flock mates. She also has her own supply of food, fresh water and grit. I usually let her out twice a day. Of course you must do what you feel is best, but none of us would do anything abusive to our hens.

I’m glad to hear she was kept well, but I’m still not going to do that. Thank you.

 

[589205]

It's always good to have backup advice from other members who use different methods that were successful. I personally have never used the wire cage method before, mainly because I've just never needed to. I've had a few broody hens during the fall and winter before but none that didn't break cycle after we started collecting eggs more often.

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

I am really happy for you that you could break your broody girl by not caging, is she a pullet?
I wish I could break broodiness by just taking eggs or moving them out of the nest but it won't work for my Silkies I have tried because I don't like caging them, I feel so bad!
Ive had 4 silkies go broody lately and I tell ya, if I don't use the cage method for 3 days they would stay broody forever! Sitting on air! Sitting on the dirt!
I let one sit on eggs though, hatching now, and 1 is still broody after 2 days in cage but I let her out and she can be a back up if other broody gets off the nest to care for hatched chicks and leaves eggs behind.

I have a friend that just allows her silkies to be broody and not sit on eggs, she just takes any eggs away. She says it gives them a break from laying and they eventually do get over it on their own but can take over a month till they realise they can't hatch chicks from air. They loose weight though from not eating properly so I don't like that method.

 

[589205]

I am really happy for you that you could break your broody girl by not caging, is she a pullet?
I wish I could break broodiness by just taking eggs or moving them out of the nest but it won't work for my Silkies I have tried because I don't like caging them, I feel so bad!
Ive had 4 silkies go broody lately and I tell ya, if I don't use the cage method for 3 days they would stay broody forever! Sitting on air! Sitting on the dirt!
I let one sit on eggs though, hatching now, and 1 is still broody after 2 days in cage but I let her out and she can be a back up if other broody gets off the nest to care for hatched chicks and leaves eggs behind.

I have a friend that just allows her silkies to be broody and not sit on eggs, she just takes any eggs away. She says it gives them a break from laying and they eventually do get over it on their own but can take over a month till they realise they can't hatch chicks from air. They loose weight though from not eating properly so I don't like that method.

I've had a couple broody RIR, Silkie, Orp and Cornish hens in the past but none of them ever stayed broody for long after we started collecting their eggs more often so we've just never had to deal with the issue yet. I know one thing I do before winter is remove separations between nesting areas in coop house to encourage our hens to share one nest. We don't manage a large flock either though, as we prefer keeping ours easy to maintain. Perhaps it's just in the way people go about caring for their chickens that maybe makes some difference

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

I've had a couple broody RIR, Silkie, Orp and Cornish hens in the past but none of them ever stayed broody for long after we started collecting their eggs more often so we've just never had to deal with the issue yet. I know one thing I do before winter is remove seperatation between nesting areas in coop house to encourage our hens to share one nest. We don't manage a large flock though either, as we prefer keeping ours easy to maintain.

You encourage them to share nest boxes? Mine just squish into 1 box without any encouragement and go broody together

 

[589205]

You encourage them to share nest boxes? Mine just squish into 1 box without any encouragement and go broody together
View attachment 2411512

That's too cute! They are total stubborn fuzzy butts

 

[589205]

You encourage them to share nest boxes? Mine just squish into 1 box without any encouragement and go broody together
View attachment 2411512

Yes, I encourage mine to share one nest in the coop during the winter so they don't usually get too comfortable wanting to sit on the eggs for very long as my other diff. breed hens bug the crap out of them until they are off the nest so that they can lay their eggs there too. I dunno how or why but it just seems to work out better for mine but I do honestly believe that having other breeds in the same flock as the Silkie can also play a major role as well. For instance, most of our RIR's & Leghorns never went broody and they would all fight viciously over who got to lay their egg in the nesting boxes, even though the available nesting boxes outnumbered them. They would all sit in the coop together, sometimes 2-3 of them laying in the same nest at the same time.

 

[PDXJULES]

I think it really just depends on what you & the hen want to accomplish. You can go with either way...let her do her broody thing & maybe seperate her so she can raise her chicks or you can take the eggs and start collecting her eggs more often to break her out of broodiness

Maybe you could sell them as Day Old Chicks?