Broody hen!! What do I do??

[ohiobirdmom]

I have 2 hens that lay in the same spot. (They are free range and lay in a corner of my lamb barn) and one is broody. She freaks out when other birds are around and when my lambs come around. My other hen that lays there had just walked away after laying her egg and she(the broody one)walked over and plopped down right on it. I went to get it and she pecked me and went crazy. So I laid it back down in front of her and she used her beak and pulled it up under her. I went to reach for it again and she fluffed her neck feathers out and started trying to attack me. What do I do to make her stop this??

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

You need to remove her and put her somewhere else in a wire bottom cage for 3-5 days so her underside cools off which will break her broodiness. Providing feed and water.

 

[ohiobirdmom]

What do you mean by cooling her underside? I have never had a broody hen so I don't know what that means.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

As long as a broody hen can sit down tight she generates a lot of heat which keeps her broody. You have to either put her somewhere she's unhappy and won't sit, or in a wire bottom cage raised off the floor so if she does sit she can't get hot. Being broody is a hormonal state that can be switched of by not letting a hen sit down tight. It normally take three days to break them, but the longer they are broody the longer it will take.

 

[ohiobirdmom]

Oh okay. Thank you!