Broody since June 2...Nothing breaks her

[Emptywagon2]

My red sexlink hen has been sitting on the nest almost none stopped since the first part of June. I have moved her..taking her off the nest constantly. She is determined to sit. Will she finally give it up or will she set forever??

 

[donrae]

She will eventually give up but you should break her, this long is a huge stress on her body. Just taking them off usually isn't enough, you need to seperate them from the nest area, suspending in a wire cage is a pretty reliable method.

Or............you could buy day old chicks and put under her and have babies!

 

[Time-Out]

I had a hen like that. I'd think I'd broken the broodiness, but as soon as I let my guard down, she'd be sitting stoicly again. I ended up letting her hatch some of my eggs in the incubator. I got so worried for her; she'd lost a lot of weight. Silly hen. We named her Bo Peep.

 

[galanie]

I have one like that too. The rest I can put in a cage off the ground for 3 days and they are broken. Not this one. I either have to just let her sit or put babies under her at night and let her raise them. Some are just like that.

But it is a terrible stress on their bodies. When I have one set that long, I put a cup of food and water where they can reach from the nest and isolate them. Then I make sure I get them up and out once a day so they can stretch and poop.

 

[Emptywagon2]

Will hens accept chicks if she is sitting on an empty nest? How do most of the other chickens handle the chicks? I have 9 hens and one roo in the coop(including the broody hen). I don't want to take her out of the coop due to having to re-introduce them back in...such a headache! She hasn't lost much weight but she looks horrible. Her comb is so pale and she has plucked most of her belly feathers out. She was my best layer too...her last egg was on June 2. I miss my nice big Ethel eggs!!

 

[galanie]

She's as if being separated anyway. Mine lose their place in the pecking order if setting more than a month even though they are right there in the coop with the rest of the flock. She's zoned out and doesn't have a thing to do with any of the others. If you wait till after dark and quietly go in and slip a few chicks under her, so long as the chicks are a week or less old, she should accept them as hers just fine. But do watch her a minute after you do it to be sure she just settles right down, and take a look in the morning to be sure all is fine. She should continue to set a day or two before getting up.

You'd want to block her off from the rest at this point though so the babies can get up and get food. When a day old, they can go w/out but not after a few days old. She'll continue setting a couple days to give any eggs that haven't hatched yet a chance to hatch. We know that no more will but she doesn't. Her hormones won't let her get up for a day or so.

 

[Emptywagon2]

She has lost her place but they aren't picking on her as if she is new...she was top hen before and was nasty to the others. She is about 3rd hen now ( bottom of her age group but above the new layers). You are right though...she has nothing to do with any of the others now...it is as if they aren't even in the coop with her. I will try the day old chicks and pray all goes well.