Can someone explain broody behavior???

[Hamptons06]

I think my BO has gone broody!

She won't come out of the box!! I had to grab her and put her in the run. She's making these low clucking sounds when I go near here. What do they act like when they are broody? How can I break it?

 

[Happy Chooks]

Is she staying in the nest box overnight?

A broody will puff up like a blowfish and screech at you (or other chickens) if you go near. They can pluck the feathers out of their chest to keep the eggs warm.

 

[gumpsgirl]

It is sounding like she's broody. All of mine have made those low clucking noises when they are broody and if she stays in the nesting box, that is more than likely what her issue is. If you want to break her, she needs to be in a cage with a wire bottom on it so a breeze can blow across her bottom. Good luck to you!

 

[horsejody]

Not all of them scream. Some are just persistant but still friendly. I have some that will let me remove them from the nestbox, but they go right back in. I used to have a hen that was psycho when she went broody. If you tried to touch her, you would have a bloody stump where your hand used to be. I tried putting her in a cage once, and she threw a 16 ounce cool whip dish full of water at me. I tried giving her a nice glass pie plate on a shelf to use as a nest. She tried throwing that me and ended up smashing it on the floor.

 

[lisameeks]

My comet repeatedly went broody. She would sit on the eggs others laid and stay there day and night. She puffs up and squaks when I go to get her off the nest. I would repeatedly pull her off the nest and fight with her to make her go outside with the other birds. When pulling her off the nest didn't work, I would put ice cubes or a cold pack (like you put in your cooler) under her. That worked a couple of cycles of broody, but then the ice trick quit working. After two months of broody (I kid you not) we put fertilized eggs under her and let her be a mom. She's a great mother. The little ones are one month old and she's teaching them all her chicken ways. Bad part of all this, out of four eggs, we got four roosters and only one hen, so the boys are most likely headed to someone's stew pot. I've not been able to find them a home where someone needs a rooster rather than a meal.

 

[suburbanminifarm]

I only have silkies-- interesting that breeds behave so differently-- 1 hen is broody now and she just keeps sneaking back in to her doghouse to sit all puffed up. But I can pick her up no problem, she doesn't really react, besides some soft noises, just like she's in a trance. She stays in a sitting position even when I take her out and put her on the grass time after time to try to break her. Very docile and sleepy. She will eventually walk around a bit, poop and eat, then back to just moping. Maybee I'll take this as a sign that I should order some eggs in the mail... hmmmm

 

[technodoll]

I only have silkies-- interesting that breeds behave so differently-- 1 hen is broody now and she just keeps sneaking back in to her doghouse to sit all puffed up. But I can pick her up no problem, she doesn't really react, besides some soft noises, just like she's in a trance. She stays in a sitting position even when I take her out and put her on the grass time after time to try to break her. Very docile and sleepy.

My silkie hen has been like this since Sunday afternoon - snap, it happened just like that.

She is acting exactly the same.

Now I have to move her and the eggs into a sectioned-off corner of the coop if there is any chance of getting chicks, as the girls all want to lay eggs in the nest that is occupied by miss broody - it's also not a place for babies, they would get killed pretty much immediately.

Now, I'm 95% certain she will NOT tolerate being apart from the flock and abandon the eggs, and keep on trying to hatch those in the nesting boxes (which are always promptly removed, except for those 6 I let her keep this morning).

I really want chicks and don't know what to do...

 

[rhoda_bruce]

So your choice of chicken was a BO and she is broody and you want to break her of it. And why exactly did you get this hen???

 

[horsejody]

Quote:
I break up my broodies too (or at least I try too). If they don't have eggs to sit on there is no point in letting them wear themselves down sitting on golf balls for weeks on end.

 

[digitS']

Q. Can someone explain broody behavior?
A. Hormones

I haven't had a rooster for years and buying chicks from the feed store works well enuf for me.

I've broken a broody just by taking them off the nest in the evening and setting them on the roost with the others. Yes, they may bite but doing this for a couple of nights is worth a try.

The last broody was a tough one. Finally, I put Ms. Broody in an above ground cage the first thing one morning. When I could block off the nests (the other hens having finished laying) I allowed her out. She couldn't get to the nest that night and she voluntarily roosted with the others.

The next morning she got right back on the nest but came off when I had treats for the other birds. I was prepared to put her back in the cage but she didn't hurry back to the nest for several hours. She came out again later in the afternoon.

That evening she climbed up on the roost by herself. It took a day or 2 for Ms. Broody to "wind down" and stop being so cranky.

Steve