Can't break a broody...on infertile eggs! HELP!

[akcskye]

What can I do for poor Daredevil?

She will NOT break her broodiness...and the rooster we kept after the big rooster fight a few months ago died a week later, so there is NO way these eggs are fertile (roo has been gone for months).

She will even sit an empty nest when we take the eggs.

She is VERY insistent!

I've heard you can put a baby under her at night, but then, I've also heard doing that can get a chick killed when the mother discovers it.

So..what can I do, other than get a fertile egg and hope she doesn't break the broodiness before it's ready to hatch?

Please help...she's been like this for weeks to no avail!

 

[coopist]

I'd probably try putting a couple of chicks under her at night. CAREFULLY. She'll probably accept them, but you'll need to be really watchful. Do you have a source for a few chicks to try this with?

If you don't want to try this, you can always try relocating her to a metal-bottomed cage for a while in an attempt to "break her up." Depends on what you want.

 

[Katy]

One of my Marans hens decided that she wouldn't quit last summer...pretty much all summer no matter what I did to make her stop. I'm seeing signs she's headed that way again this summer.

 

[MissPrissy]

You can try a few other things. Fill milk jugs with water and put them in the nest box so she can't get in. Lock her out of the area during the day. If you are peristant and consistant you should be able to break her.

If you don't want to break her and you give her some chicks be very careful and watchful. She could end up killing them outright.

 

[Davaroo]

Some hens are like that. I had one, Queenie, that would never leave the nest. Her bottom was clean - featherless, I tell you!

There are all sorts of ways to break broodiness, but for the insistent hen they dont always take long-term. Sounds like you have one of those sorts. My advice?

Get some fertile eggs from someone and give her life some purpose and meaning.

Or, toss her out of the nest when you catch her there. Dont mollycoddle her, just give her the boot.
Shell go back when you arent looking, but at least you'll feel better for having done something.

 

[akcskye]

Sorry, but this pic was so hilarious I had to share it with you.

This is what you get when you get Daredevil out of her nest...hehehe

 

[newchickmom]

I put 2 chicks under my broody because I couldn't break her.
Worked great, she is taking very good care of them for almost a week now.

 

[riderbecky]

I read somewhere that if you put the chicks in a paper bag in besider her...she'll hear the peeping of the chicks and start communicating with them...the a couple days later you can swap the chicks for the eggs during the night and voila...instant mommy.

My understanding is that a hen will be less likely to kill the chicks if she's tricked into thinking its the eggs she's talking to instead of one day theres chicks. Sorry if this isn't very clear.

 

[Echobabe]

When I was little and we had a hen go broody . . . my parents got a big bucket, filled it with water, and plunged that hen head first in the bucket. She thrashed about for a few seconds and then was pulled out of the water.

After that she forgot all about being broody and got back to regular chicken business. Seems pretty darn cruel, but I remember it was effective.