Broody Hen

[nivine]

I'm relatively new to chickens (only had ours for about a year) and our buff Orpington just went broody and we have no roosters so therefore she won't be hatching any eggs. I've heard that broody hens will stay broody until they hatch eggs which can be bad for their health if they don't have eggs because they can stay on the nest for too long but I'm not sure. Will she eventually just get off the nest and go back to normal or will we have to give her some hatching eggs. We also have three chicks that are about a week old that we could give her and try to trick her into thinking she hatched eggs.

 

[DobieLover]

I'm relatively new to chickens (only had ours for about a year) and our buff Orpington just went broody and we have no roosters so therefore she won't be hatching any eggs. I've heard that broody hens will stay broody until they hatch eggs which can be bad for their health if they don't have eggs because they can stay on the nest for too long but I'm not sure. Will she eventually just get off the nest and go back to normal or will we have to give her some hatching eggs. We also have three chicks that are about a week old that we could give her and try to trick her into thinking she hatched eggs.

You will not be able to give her week old chicks and trick her into thinking she hatched them in a day.
You need to break her.
I use a small dog crate that is elevated off the floor so air can circulate under her. No bedding in the crate. Just the wire floor and maybe a 2x4 or something for her to perch on. Put food and water in with her and leave her in there for 2 days and 2 nights then let her out the third day in the morning and monitor her. If she heads back to the nest, put her back in the crate for another day.
The longer you wait to break her, the harder it is to do.

 

[aart]

Redundant advice....but....
If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, IMO it's best to break her broodiness promptly.
My experience goes about like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest (or as soon as I know they are broody), I put her in a wire dog crate (24"L x 18"W x 21"H) with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop or run with feed and water.

I used to let them out a couple times a day, but now just once a day in the evening(you don't have to) 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. Or take her out of crate daily very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate.

Tho not necessary a chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.

 

[Boccom]

my chickens could never drink out of those water things on the wall due to being too dumb