Cannot break broody hens have tried everything

[jondee]

I did try the cold water last year with my broody Buff Orp. We have a small pond, so I dunked her underside in the pond, getting her pretty wet. She spent the next half-hour or so preening, scratching and eating, and doing the regular chicken stuff, then tried to get back into the coop where her nest box is. But after a couple days of daily dunkings, she stopped being broody. She went broody again a few months later, and the water didn't work. I let her sit for a few weeks, then slipped a few day-old chicks under her one night. She did a beautiful job of raising them. This year, I have a very active rooster with the hens, so when this hen went broody again, I just gave her a batch of eggs. She looks satisfied, lol. We'll see what happens in a few weeks.

Joni

 

[azygous]

I bet you haven't tried a fan under the wire cage. That one detail is something most people miss when trying to break a broody hen.

I have it down to a science. I can tell as much as two weeks in advance that a hen is going broody. The hormones begin building that far ahead of when they actually go into a nest and stick to it. They develop a broody cluck which is a nervous, fretful, low clucking unlike any of their normal vocalizing. They start losing the soft feathers along the breast bone. It's not until they lay their final egg that they stick to the nest.

That's when I set up the wire cage on blocks to get it up off the ground, and I place a fan at an angle to one side so that the air circulates under the cage. This cools the broody's body temperature, which helps to interrupt the hormone production. It expedites the process greatly. On average, most broodys can be broken in three days with the fan. A really hard case will take five or six days.

The broody remains in the cage day and night with the fan going the entire time. I do let her out a couple times during the day to stretch her legs, but I need to lock down the coop so she can't get to any nest boxes.

Skip all the silly things like cold water dunks and ice packs in the nest. They don't work. I know because I've tried them all. The wire cage with a fan is the one tried and true method that never fails.

 

[CindaLouWho]

Three of my four went broody. I let one have the nest and locked the others out of the main coop until they stopped stalking the coop.
Took 4 days. At night they slept in the bottom (run) of the coop.

 

[S1ilkieGirl99]

okay that sounds good. hopefully after a while she will get back into routine. I had a hen who was broody before a big show, I was worried her condition and appearance would worsen without enough food water and exercise. well the whole show experience kin of shocked her out of broodiness as it broke routine for her. good luck!

 

[mollie house]

This is our second year raising chickens in our backyard and this year have discovered a kind way to help deal with our broody hen..

One of our hens is a sweet Buff Orpington and this is the second Spring that she's become broody. Last year we broke down after two and half weeks of watching her starve and pulling out her feathers when finally we brought home a day-old chick to place underneath her in the nest. The next morning she was transformed into a doting Mom and she began focusing her attention on the new chick and the two of them were outside in the yard within a few days.

This year, she's broody again and we don't need more chickens, so... after reading postings from other members I devised a plan that seems to be working for us.

Learning that we need to cool her body temperature down, I half filled a small tub with cool water and gently lowered her into the water and held her while she floated on top for about ten minutes. Only her feet and tummy were in the water. She fussed at first but then settled down and seemed content enough bobbing about.

Then I lifted her out and set her on the patio... which has a gate preventing her from seeing or running back to the coop. And for rest of the day we keep her in this separate part of the yard. She's doesn't act entirely normal but at least she eats and scratches around a bit in the yard. We let some of the other chickens in to keep her company.

I think you do need a gate or fencing to keep her from running back to the coop during the day because in the evening when they all go back to the coop she's immediately back to her broody state of being. But the next morning after a few minutes bobbing in the tub, she's okay again.

Hope this helps someone else.

 

[8machines]

I have removed all nesting boxes ( they are not laying anyway) and then I put in wire cages for a week that did not work, I tried getting baby chicks to trick them that did not work, so now I have 5 red pullets babies running around which I love them. I also have two pekin ducks and when I do kick them out they fight with my ducks. I did not have these hens since they were little they were given to us and they were doing great laying one egg a day each but for two months they are broody and they both sit in the same nest the one chicken is protective of the other one and wraps her wing around the other. I just physically remove them from the nest daily and lock them out and they do come out and eat then but they keep stalking the coop. they are making me crazy and very attitudy. I really don't have access to fertilized eggs so that is not any option.

I am on day 7. I too put her out all day or in in a cage, wire but with a wood bottom, no bedding. My only mistake is letting her be in the nest at night. ( I know that is wrong). Tomorrow we will replace the wood flooring of the cage with wire and elevate it. I just worry about the night air. I did it one night and thought she was dead the next day. This next week it is supposed to be warm so I will leave her in the cage day and night when she is not out with the rest of the girls. Good luck. I look forward to your progress.

 

[8machines]

Today we went for chicken food and they had brand new Buff Orphingtons that just arrived. While my husband did not want to try a chick for our broody JG, the lady suggested he try it. So, he let me have the chick which is adorable, and we put the chick under the new Mama just in time for Mothers Day. I hope it works out. I put some water in the cage. We keep our food and water under our coop, which is up off the ground. I will need to give the chick food and I hope this works out and the big girl gets this girl out of her broodiness.

 

[CindaLouWho]

Did it work?! Did the mama accept the adopted chick?

 

[8machines]

Did it work?! Did the mama accept the adopted chick?

Yes she did! They eat together and the Mama calls her to go to sleep. I have them in a large cage inside the coop area and the little chick gets on Mama's back. It is really cute. I am learning a lot from them. Wish I had bought 2 but since I have 19 already, my husband wasn't too keep on the idea. So far so good.

 

[CindaLouWho]

Excellent!