Broody Hen

[Ryan A]

Hi, I don't know if I have a broody hen or not, but I don't care. My question is, how can I feed my broody hen, just in case she is broody. I am open to different answers, and I'll either pick the most popular answer or the most sensible answer to me. Thanks!

 

[Aapomp831]

Broody hens do not lay eggs so they don’t need layer feed, but it won’t hurt them to eat the layer feed with the rest of your flock for the 21 days while broody; what I do is 3 days before hatch, I put chick food in with her and partition her off from the rest of the flock so they can’t get to it. The chick food is perfect for mom to eat because it contains extra protein to help chicks grow, and also helps mom recover from being broody ( which takes a toll on their bodies ).
However; I personally don’t feed my flock layer feed. I feed all flock with oyster shell on the side. That way I don’t have to worry about my girls getting too much calcium and makes for a much easier transition when integrating - you don’t have to keep everyone separate for 5 months until everyone is laying and can eat the same feed. You can feed them all chick food if you want with oyster shell on the side if you integrate sooner than that.

 

[Ryan A]

Broody hens do not lay eggs so they don’t need layer feed, but it won’t hurt them to eat the layer feed with the rest of your flock for the 21 days while broody; what I do is 3 days before hatch, I put chick food in with her and partition her off from the rest of the flock so they can’t get to it. The chick food is perfect for mom to eat because it contains extra protein to help chicks grow, and also helps mom recover from being broody ( which takes a toll on their bodies ).
However; I personally don’t feed my flock layer feed. I feed all flock with oyster shell on the side. That way I don’t have to worry about my girls getting too much calcium and makes for a much easier transition when integrating - you don’t have to keep everyone separate for 5 months until everyone is laying and can eat the same feed. You can feed them all chick food if you want with oyster shell on the side if you integrate sooner than that.

thanks, but we don't have a rooster so no eggs laid are fertile.

 

[Aapomp831]

thanks, but we don't have a rooster so no eggs laid are fertile.

Lol, then why would it matter? If you don’t have a rooster, then you’ll have to break her from being broody anyway... what you feed a broody hen when you have no intentions of letting her brood is irrelevant so I’m just curious as to why you ask...

 

[danielle2003]

If you do not have any fertilized eggs, broodiness should be a behavior that she be discouraged as much as possible. I had a hen that went broody, but she still came out to eat and drink. I kept taking her out of her nest, and she soon got the message. If your hen simply WON'T leave though, you can just place a bowl of food and water near her nest box.

 

[PopoMyers]

If you do not have any fertilized eggs, broodiness should be a behavior that she be discouraged as much as possible. I had a hen that went broody, but she still came out to eat and drink. I kept taking her out of her nest, and she soon got the message. If your hen simply WON'T leave though, you can just place a bowl of food and water near her nest box.

Let's see, you are the boss. Take her out of the nest, and if it's not the only nesting box, block it off. She may get the idea. If she goes and sets on another , kick her out. Or put her in chicken jail for a few days, and test her again. Repeat until she quits. Keep checking.

 

[rosemarythyme]

First thing is to determine if she's actually broody. If so, since you're not planning on hatching, best thing to do is to break broodiness by caging her with food and water away from the nest.

As far as feed, I don't feed my broodies any differently than the rest of my flock (I feed roughly half layer, half grower) as their downtime usually isn't very long. They usually resume laying a week or two after being broken of broodiness.