Broody Hen

[fishingvswife]

I have a hen that has gone broody. I keep taking the eggs out from under her daily because she has chosen a bad spot to sit on the eggs. She will not give up. Is there some way to talk sweet to her and try to convince her to change locations? Seriously, is there any way to get a hen to move her nesting spot?

 

[airmom1c05]

If you can put her in a nest in an isolation pen or cage she will either not be broody after a couple of days or she will adapt to the new location. Here is my favorite broody link:

http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Broody-Hens-1.html

 

[fishingvswife]

Thank you for your help. The site is most awesome. Hopefully I can change her mind. I am going to give it a try.

 

[airmom1c05]

I hope you had better success than I this evening! My broody exhibition Buff Orp was broody last Friday when I picked her up in Canton, but the car ride must have messed up that broodiness. Not only is she not broody, but she hasn't laid an egg for me yet. She's pretty enough to get by with it, and to be fair, she had a real laying box in Canton, and she has a dog crate here.

Anyway, I chose her because of some fertile silkie Serama bantam eggs I've been storing, and the little bantam had not shown any signs of going broody on the golf balls I put in her "laying box/nest". Well, wonders never cease. She was setting on those golf balls this afternoon. After several hours, I decided to move the whole nest to the HUGE dog crate thinking that tonight I could swap eggs for golf balls and we'd be in business! NOT! She pitched a little banty fit! Perhaps I should have waited until dark to move her. Anyway, I put everything back like it was, and she was roosting with her mate when I closed the coop. An "Almost, but no cigar" kind of story today. I'll never give up. With FIVE hens, somebody is bound to go broody sooner or later! Have you moved yours yet?

 

[austinhart123]

what i do when my hens do that is i take a nestbox and put the eggs in it. i put it on the broody spot and let the hen go in it. then at night, i move the nestbow to my desired location.

 

[fishingvswife]

austin...that is a great idea. I have not dealt with my broody hen yet. I have not had time. I keep taking the fresh eggs out from under her and she does not seem to mind sitting on air. She is really broody, I hope she stays that way till I have time this weekend to deal with her. I love watching the little ones run around the place safely.