Broody hens issue - or is it?

[Kakaruk]

Hello friends,

I've had four broody hens this spring, first year hens. One I helped by locking in the smaller coop and she stopped after a couple days. Then, two more started brooding, then another, like it's spreading among the girls. I take them out often and lock in the smaller coop but I let them out after half a day or so because I don't have another food/water source in there. They just keep going back to brooding. I take all eggs away, production is down, but it's even past 21 days and they're still doing it. I read the article with the dog pen, I can't do that, I've got three now. Anyway, do I just keep taking eggs away and put up with the lower production, just deal with it? When will they stop?

 

[rosemarythyme]

They should stop when they've set long enough to realize that the "eggs" haven't hatched. However some hens may continue sitting well past that point.

Out of curiosity why can't you do a crate or other confinement area? If you do it immediately you can generally break them in 2-3 days, and if the confinement area is large enough you can put more than 1 bird in provided they get along with all the hormones going. The longer you wait the harder it is to break them, and yes some folks do think broodiness is "contagious" perhaps due to the sound and behavior of the broodies.

 

[Kakaruk]

They should stop when they've set long enough to realize that the "eggs" haven't hatched. However some hens may continue sitting well past that point.

Out of curiosity why can't you do a crate or other confinement area? If you do it immediately you can generally break them in 2-3 days, and if the confinement area is large enough you can put more than 1 bird in provided they get along with all the hormones going. The longer you wait the harder it is to break them, and yes some folks do think broodiness is "contagious" perhaps due to the sound and behavior of the broodies.

Well, as I shared, I don't have another food/water source in my little coop. I guess I'm gonna have to bite the bullet and set it up that way.