broody, no rooster

[vwahlstrom]

I just saw the "how to break a broody hen" post, about the wire cage. Interesting! My broody hen is pretty determined, so I may do that. What happens if you just do nothing, and let her sit it out? As I don't have a rooster, don't need to increase the flock, I keep the eggs removed. She sits anyway. Will she snap out of it after 21 days anyway? Will it affect her health and strength to do this?

I'm brand new to posting (anything, ever) and am learning how it works.

 

[Domestic_goddess]

I would make sure she gets down to eat and drink is the first thing, she'll starve herself if you don't. If your not going to hatch any chicks I would break her of the brood!

 

[Kittymomma]

Quote:

I would just go ahead and break her if you're not going to get some fertile hatching eggs or sneak some day-olds under her. Sometimes they'll sit for months trying to hatch something and since they don't take very good care of themselves while broody it's really not good for them.

 

[Imp]

I broke mine by just throwing her out of the coop as often as I could. Took about a week to give up. Apparently she wasn't that determined.

Imp

 

[OKbirdwatcher]

Imp,

Sounds a lot like our experience with an Australorp. I saw her on eggs only once. Usually she was just setting. (I think she just wanted some "quiet time"

Sometimes we would put her out in the pen when the others were getting fed their scratch or a treat; sometimes we just let her be. She rejoined the flock in about 2 weeks max.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

It seems that each hen comes with her own component of broody skills & desires. Some have their broody mood more easily broken than others. You can try picking her up off the nest & carrying her far out into the yard, sometimes that's all they need to come out of the spell. For more determined broodies you'll need to confine them in a Broody Buster cage. I don't know what the World Record is for a hen setting on a nest with no results, but I'm sure a hen could set for months if left undisturbed. I think it's better for them to either incubate eggs or have their spell broken for them for the reasons already stated.

 

[vwahlstrom]

Thank you, everybody for your words of wisdom! I'm going to break the broody mood. I think she's determined enough to nest indefinitely if I don't!

 

[kikster]

Good luck, hope yours isn't as persistent as mine. We've been trying to break my banty cochin for 3 wks now. We take her off the nest, dunk her in cold water, all of the suggestions, she's just not breakin. I don't know what else to do. I'm wondering too, if she'll just snap out of it this week, since we're obviously at the stage that eggs WOULD have hatched, if they were fertile.... Until then we're just making sure she still eats as often as possible... *SIGH*

 

[vwahlstrom]

My hen was so persistent, I was beginning to think nothing would work. She beat every trick we tried. Then I tried "walking" my chickens away from the coop late afternoon. (I can't let mine free range.) When she was 15 or 20 feet away from the coop she started having fun with the others, digging & scratching & catching bugs. That night she tried to sleep in the nest box area again, so thought it didn't work. AM she leaped out of the roost with the others and had snapped out of the broody spell, and been fine & roosting normally for several days now. Was it the walk that did it? Was it a hormone drop? Both? I don't know, but I'll do the "walk" first next time it happens, it was what worked for us! Thanks Sunny Side Up for suggesting that idea! And all the others for good ideas, too, my next broody may be different, you never know till you try!

 

[teach1rusl]

My GLW has been broody (no rooster, eggs removed) for two weeks now. I'm letting her ride it out. I toss her off the nest to eat, stretch, drink, and poop twice a day. At these times, she's stayed off the nest for as long as 30 minutes if she takes a quick dust bath, but then she's right back on. I'm giving her 21 days or so before I do anything more drastic, so she's got a free ticket for another week or so. I guess I understand the hormonal thing and how it messes you up...lol...so I'm really empathetic.