Broody hen

[Pawpaw&Mawmaw]

I'm fairly new to raising chickens, although, I have learned a lot mostly from BYC (from ya'll). My hens will be 2 years old this spring and I have no rooster. I think I have my first broody hen but I'm not sure. A couple of days ago I noticed my hen Molly (a Buff Orpington), staying in one of the laying nests what seemed like all day. The next morning she was still in the nest, puffed out and seemed lethargic. Not the Molly I know at all! She is one of my most social hens and loves attention and being talked to. I started thinking she was egg bound and went into full emergency mode since I believe "broody" hens are not all that common. I worried about keeping her inside since it is very cold in Ohio right now. Taking her from the heat back out into the cold didn't seem like the best idea, but if she was going to die from being egg bound what did she have to loose. I did the warm water soak with Epsom Salt and dried her (she LOVED the blow dryer!). Checked her vent and Did Not feel an egg (but it can be further up I understand), and put her in a quite, dark place in the house. The next morning, no egg. To stay on the safe side I kept her inside until mid-day, but still no egg. At that point I took her out of the cage and watched her with no noticeable issues, so I took her back to the coop. Thank Heaven the temp did rise and was in the upper 20's outside and upper 30's in the coop. In the last couple of days she has still been laying in one of the nesting boxes a lot, but will get out when I bring veggies etc. It does not seem to matter if an egg is in the nesting box or not. I think she is broody?? Thoughts? I was thinking of getting a couple of fertile eggs from my neighbor, but what if she hatched at this time of year? That could be another issue....

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Generally when you remove a broody hen from the nest she will make a clucking noise constantly and will be in a hurry to return to the nest. I have had silent broodies too. Broodies will walk around puffed up too and often the become defensive in the box. So behavior of you when will help determine what is going on.

 

[Welshies]

Broodies are sort of risky. They can be a great addition to a flock.... or, not so great. Some broodies always go broody, reliably sitting egg clutch after egg clutch, while others go broody once and never will again. Some broodies are great incubators only to kill the chicks at hatching. All broodies have a tough time keeping their weight on while brooding and mothering a clutch.
If you are going to brood consider a few things. Is she broody currently? A broody will refuse to get off the nest and may puff up or cluck at you when you approach her. Once she's been broody for a few days, you can generally be assured she is, in fact, broody. You can replace her current clutch with a new set of eggs under her, usually at night.
Broodies can be seperated or kept with the flock. I've done both. When I kept mine with the flock, although my chicks were integrated from day one, I had a few smothered chicks from interfering hens trying to hatch them. I also had a staggered hatch from other hens coming into my broody's nest and laying eggs. When I had my broody seperated, she maintained her weight better, but the chicks were harder to integrate.
Have a backup plan in case your broody abandons her new chicks.

 

[song of joy]

A hen may appear lethargic or almost in a trance while she's incubating eggs. It's typical for her to puff up when a person or other chickens approach her nest. If you remove a broody hen from the nest, she will try to go right back to the nest. She may take a few minutes to eat, drink, poo and take a dust bath, but then she will return to the nest with determination.

Considering she is 2 years old, it seems more likely that she was broody than egg-bound (which tends to happen more with pullets that are just beginning to lay). Removing her from the nest for a day or two may break her broodiness, which is probably not a bad idea considering it's winter. If she went broody once, she very likely will again in the spring and/or summer.

 

[Pawpaw&Mawmaw]

Update: Took care of the ladies this morning and the same signs as yesterday with Molly. In the nest upon arrival, got out, ate, pooped etc. and back to the nesting box. Puffed up and buried her head I assume to keep warmer. I had removed the one egg already in the same nesting box and it wasn't even hers. The egg was from one of my RIR's. With a broody hen is it typical to go back to the nesting box even when the egg(s) have been removed? I think I need to research broody hens more. I don't understand all the negatives of her being broody to know if I want to keep her that way. Does it really matter if I keep removing the eggs? Their not fertile. I only have two buffs and got two eggs yesterday so she must be laying? But in all honesty sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between my RIR eggs and the buffs. The buffs are usually slightly lighter in color but I have no way of telling for sure who laid which egg.

 

[Welshies]

Update: Took care of the ladies this morning and the same signs as yesterday with Molly. In the nest upon arrival, got out, ate, pooped etc. and back to the nesting box. Puffed up and buried her head I assume to keep warmer. I had removed the one egg already in the same nesting box and it wasn't even hers. The egg was from one of my RIR's. With a broody hen is it typical to go back to the nesting box even when the egg(s) have been removed? I think I need to research broody hens more. I don't understand all the negatives of her being broody to know if I want to keep her that way. Does it really matter if I keep removing the eggs? Their not fertile. I only have two buffs and got two eggs yesterday so she must be laying? But in all honesty sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between my RIR eggs and the buffs. The buffs are usually slightly lighter in color but I have no way of telling for sure who laid which egg.

Broodies don't go broody because of the amount of eggs in the nest- they go broody because of a hormone change. I wouldn't let her sit just for the sake of it- and especially not on infertile eggs. Broodiness is extremely hard on the body, and many hens suffer with malnourishment because of it. If you want her to hatch out her eggs, get fertile ones for her to sit on- or break her of her broodiness ASAP.
The other hens probably climbed in the nest to lay.

 

[Pawpaw&Mawmaw]

Okay...it looks like there are several ways of breaking a broody hen. Although I like the idea of her hatching in the spring, I'm not too into having her first clutch of chicks (and mine!) in the winter. If she goes broody again another time of year I would love to borrow a couple of fertile eggs from my neighbor and do it. That being said, taking her out of the box seems like the best way to go at this time of year. How long could this process go on? I'll do just about anything for my ladies, but I can't just stay up there all day every day.

 

[Welshies]

Okay...it looks like there are several ways of breaking a broody hen. Although I like the idea of her hatching in the spring, I'm not too into having her first clutch of chicks (and mine!) in the winter. If she goes broody again another time of year I would love to borrow a couple of fertile eggs from my neighbor and do it. That being said, taking her out of the box seems like the best way to go at this time of year. How long could this process go on? I'll do just about anything for my ladies, but I can't just stay up there all day every day.

Just removing her repeatedly from the nest box won't do anything. Breaking a broody is a very particular process. There's someone on here who has a successful method- maybe @aart or @Miss Lydia or @junebuggena knows a name or a method to help.

 

[junebuggena]

An elevated wire cage works for me. 3 days in the cage with food and water but no bedding of any kind and they are back to normal.

 

[Miss Lydia]

With my broody hens I take all eggs and usually with in a few days she gets up on her own and leaves the nest. But I do have some stubborn ones that refuse so I just make sure they come out daily to eat and poop then let nature take it's course.

Some make an all enclosed pen off the ground with hardware cloth no bedding and leave them in it till broodiness breaks. Food and water also.