"Build up" a broody hen?????

[spivey]

Hi I've come to the realisation that my rooster is a pullet who's broodyness is in overdrive! However her appetite is at a all time low nothing seems to temp with the exception of mackerels!! But her weight has really dropped I've tried various favourites from cherry to scrambled egg and much more! Is there anything I can buy that will help keep her weight and gain back what she's lost!! I'm literally waving things under her beak that would have gone down whole without touching the sides to nothing or very little. Help please

 

[spivey]

I scarred she's going to starve!!!!

 

[iwiw60]

Hi I've come to the realisation that my rooster is a pullet who's broodyness is in overdrive! However her appetite is at a all time low nothing seems to temp with the exception of mackerels!! But her weight has really dropped I've tried various favourites from cherry to scrambled egg and much more! Is there anything I can buy that will help keep her weight and gain back what she's lost!! I'm literally waving things under her beak that would have gone down whole without touching the sides to nothing or very little. Help please

Are you absolutely positive she is, in fact, broody? There's no chance it could be some type of illness? Has she laid eggs yet? How old is she? What brings you to think she is broody? Need to ask these questions so that we can have a better overall idea of just what you're dealing with...true broodiness, or illness of some kind.

 

[spivey]

She's 5mth old brown leghorn! That comes out from food 1st thing then remains the rest of the day in the nest! Sitting on my Rhode Islands eggs!!! Which we remove every day! We get blue/green eggs also which she sits on but not sure if there hers or the aracuna! She makes a funny low growl sound when we try get the eggs from underneath her but even then after the eggs are removed there she stays! Unless she's really really hungry! She also comes put to dust bath!!!! Then back! Everything is reversed! Before she ate for England and very sociable now it's eats very little and maybe leaves the nest 2/3x a day. Broody hen!!! I think so????

 

[iwiw60]

She is absolutely showing all signs of a true broody. As she seems very determined, and if you do not want to 'break' her of her broodiness, do you have fertile eggs you can put under her and let her "do her thing"? She sure sounds like she'd stay the course and hatch them!

 

[spivey]

No fertilised eggs unfortunately I've resorted to drastic measures today and put her out with the other 2 and closed the coup door so she can't just sit and starve. Not sure if it's the right thing to do or not???? Just trying to break the cycle.

 

[Ridgerunner]

My key to determining if a hen is truly broody is that she needs to spend two consecutive nights on the nest instead of roosting in her favorite spot. I’ve had some display most of the signs of being broody yet fail the two consecutive night test.

Before a hen goes broody or even starts to lay she stores up a lot of fat. Most of that is around the pelvic area and is called a fat pad, but the fat is all through her body. That is mostly what she lives off of when she is broody. She still needs to eat and especially drink, but most broodies only come off the nest once a day to eat, drink, and poop. In hot weather I’ve had hens come off twice a day for an hour each time, but in cooler weather I’ve had hens come off once a day for only about 15 minutes. Each hen is different. I’ve never had one starve herself to death, though some people toss them off the nest once a day to give them a chance to eat, drink, and poop. That’s just never been necessary for me. A broody will lose a lot of weight while she is broody but that is practically all fat stored for that purpose. It doesn’t hurt them until that fat runs out. That fat should not run out for several weeks. They were designed that way.

The best way to break a broody is to put her in a raised wire-bottom cage with food and water. Leave her locked in there for three full days. The wire bottom allows cooler air to hit her bottom, which helps. On rare occasions I’ve had a hen go back to her old nest after the three days, so I just lock her up in that cage again until she is broken from being broody.

 

[spivey]

Hi, thanks for that advice that was really helpful she was an absolute piglet before getting broody and she does come out once a day too!! You've discribed her behaviour! I will try the cage idea do I seperate her from the coup and other 2 ladies???

 

[spivey]

She's in there day and night just comes out on a morning!!!!

 

[Ridgerunner]

My broody-buster is in the coop. That way it is predator-proof.