Constant Brooder.

[Ribh]

This is Hepzibah, one of my Barred Rocks. She arrived @ POL @ the beginning of August so this is her first laying season. I know Rocks sometimes have a tendency to go broody but twice in a month?! I don't have a roo & don't want to raise chicks myself but I do want her eggs so this is mighty inconvenient as she set the other girls off too.

We are in our summer but it is only just starting to get really hot now. Any ideas to stop her constantly going broody? Strange as it may seem I've never had to deal with a broody chook before. Last time I had rescue ISA Browns, bantams & leghorns & they weren't prone to this sort of behaviour.

 

[aart]

OhBoy...BTDT...it's a PITA.
Had one last summer I broke 7 times, after her hatching in March..SMH.
I finally gave her away to someone who wanted a broody.

Keep breaking her, I use a crate in the coop or run or had to move her around yard to stay in shade during heat waves. I actually think moving her around sped up the breaking process.

If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, best to break her broodiness promptly.
My experience goes about like this: After her setting for 3 days and nights in the nest, I put her in a wire dog crate with smaller wire on the bottom but no bedding, set up on a couple of 4x4's right in the coop with feed and water.

I used to let them out a couple times a day, but now just once a day in the evening(you don't have to) and she would go out into the run, drop a huge turd, race around running, take a vigorous dust bath then head back to the nest... at which point I put her back in the crate. Each time her outings would lengthen a bit, eating, drinking and scratching more and on the 3rd afternoon she stayed out of the nest and went to roost that evening...event over, back to normal tho she didn't lay for another week or two. Or take her out of crate daily very near roosting time(30-60 mins) if she goes to roost great, if she goes to nest put her back in crate.
Chunk of 2x4 for a 'roost' was added to crate floor after pic was taken.

 

[Ribh]

Ok, so this is a thing with some chooks? I just gotta keep breaking her? *Sigh* She's a real sweetie otherwise. Thanks aart.

 

[Peppercorngal]

I have a constant broody hen too. As a matter of fact I named her "Broody" for that reason. I don't happen to agree with "breaking" a broody, and I don't. I have plenty of hens for eggs and if she's broody it's hormonal and it's the way she is. She laid eggs for two weeks only before going broody the first time. I gave her 3 eggs and she hatched two chicks. The summer went by and she started sitting in the nest and I hoped for eggs again. Nope, Broody is broody again. So I decided to give her two eggs. She wouldn't sit on the eggs I have her and just jumped from nesting box to nesting box to sit on the one with the most eggs, which could change in minutes! So I took the eggs away and a couple of days ago she stopped being broody. She is a very sweet EE and I just let her be. I have 29 hens, a egg business and have plenty without her.

 

[Ribh]

peppercorngal: I would let her be so long as she remained healthy but I only have 5 hens & the first time all the other chooks followed her into broodiness & I ended up with no eggs. She also goes of her food when she broods so prolonged periods of broodiness aren't in her own best interests.

 

[Peppercorngal]

peppercorngal: I would let her be so long as she remained healthy but I only have 5 hens & the first time all the other chooks followed her into broodiness & I ended up with no eggs. She also goes of her food when she broods so prolonged periods of broodiness aren't in her own best interests.

That is quite interesting. I've only had Broody be broody alone. No other hen has done that . . . so far! We have plenty of eggs, about 20 per day now, so it's ok. If Broody won't get off the nest I put tiny little cups of food and water in the box and she eats and drinks. I do that since I'm out with them 3 or times a day, I may as well be sure she will survive. I've never heard of a hen that died from refusing to leave a nest though. Sorry your broody girl affects others!

 

[Mosey2003]

Agree with the broody breaker cage, I use one too.

The only other thing you can do is try to make the nests less hospital to a broody. So you could get some of those prickly plastic nest mats and make sure that there's plenty of light in the nests, and pick up eggs often. I read from some internet poultry person that those prickly nest mats are actually meant to make the nests just uncomfortable enough that the birds don't want to hang around, thus fewer dirty eggs.

 

[Ribh]

I have never heard of prickly nests. Any Aussies heard of these?

 

[Mosey2003]

I have never heard of prickly nests. Any Aussies heard of these?

These:
https://www.amazon.com/WASHABLE-NESTING-BOTTOM-CHICKEN-POULTRY/dp/B075DCHPVL/

Don't know about availability in Australia, but these are pretty widespread in the US.

 

[Ribh]

Ok. Thanks. Unfortunately I can no longer buy through Amazon.com due to GST restrictions in our country but I will see if .com.au carries them.