Broody question

[Lady Who]

ok, so i have a amost 3 year old batam cochin and she goes broody every year and stays that way for almost a year and it doesnt matter how much things you do to her. this hen wont break (really, i left for collage and she was broody and came back in the summer and she was still broody)

I am not allowed to have anymore chickens but i am extremly tierd of fighting her on this.

so does anyone think i could give her fake eggs and let her try to hatch them out but after the 21 day then she will break being broody?

 

[SueT]

No she likely will not snap out of it at 21 days. Hens have been known to stay broody until they die from lack of condition, since they don't eat /drink much. But it sounds like yours has gone on for months at a time?
You have tried isolating her in a wire bottom cage for 4-5 days?

 

[Lady Who]

darn, i wanted to see if it would but if it doesnt then i wont do it.
my hen stay broody for months at a time
I have tried everything under the sun. the only thing that really works is ice pack rapped in a paper towel that only works one or twice then try she to hatch that.
i wouldnt care as much but she a black cochin in the south.

 

[aart]

(really, i left for collage and she was broody and came back in the summer and she was still broody)

No one was taking care of the birds...did she really stay broody all winter??

I have tried everything under the sun.

Have you tried this?

If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, best to break her broodiness promptly.
My experience goes about like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest, I put her in a wire dog crate 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.
Chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.

 

[Lady Who]

oh no, My family took great care of her but my Father is a real softy when it comes to my flock and this hen is the baby of the flock, so he didnt do anything that would break her. when i would come home for a week. I would try to fix it but the moment i left, my family would drop the ball again. It wasnt thier fault for being overly caring but it didnt help the broodies. good thing i only residential for a year haha.

thats diffrent then the one i tried and will try that one next

at the monent i am trying this, i will move her into a fenced in area that far away from all coops so much that she can not see them and i will keep her out there then at night move her in to a dog crate and repeat. this idea worked once but she was just a pullet and didnt want it as bad.

 

[SueT]

my Father is a real softy when it comes to my flock and this hen is the baby

Well then maybe you can talk him into giving her ONE egg to hatch, or two, just in case one isn't viable.

 

[aart]

My family took great care of her but my Father is a real softy when it comes to my flock and this hen is the baby of the flock, so he didn't do anything that would break her.

Sometimes 'tough love' is what's best for a bird...letting a bird sit with no results is rather cruel, IMO.

 

[Lady Who]

Well then maybe you can talk him into giving her ONE egg to hatch, or two, just in case one isn't viable.

Haha, I wish but it isn’t my father so says no more chickens.

Sometimes 'tough love' is what's best for a bird...letting a bird sit with no results is rather cruel, IMO.

I know, and I’m trying my best! I hate watching her waste away in a broody state so I try everything I can to break her stride

 

[aart]

I know, and I’m trying my best! I hate watching her waste away in a broody state so I try everything I can to break her stride

Your father needs to do this too, if he is the one responsible for the birds while you are gone. Him letting it slide is making it harder on you and the broody.