constantly going broody

[strawny]

Hi everyone,
Just had a quick question I was hoping someone could help us with. We are fairly new to having chooks in our family, we started with 4 RIR's but that has unfortunately dropped to two, as the others died quite young. They have both been broody at some point but one in particular seems to have developed quite the knack for it! She will go broody once every few weeks, sometimes sooner. We use a raised wire cage big enough for her to spread out but with nowhere to nest (with food and water of course!). She remains in a sheltered area outdoors whilst in there so her friend knows she's still about. Normally after a couple of days she's fine again but it starts again before she's back to laying. Eggs are never left in nesting boxes, and I can't think of any other things we might be doing to encourage her. Any ideas you could offer would be very much appreciated!
Thanks,
Phil

 

[Duckopolis]

You may need to make her a little less comfortable if you know what I mean. Nest box cir. may help.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! Some broodys are very determined. I would try keeping her in the broody breaker cage for a week or so after she appears to have stopped being broody. Is she, or has she molted lately? That will also keep them from laying for quite awhile and a lot of ex-broodies seem to go into molt. You might also check her over closely and give her a good physical exam to be sure that nothing else is going on with her.

 

[Duckopolis]

You could decrease her light so that her egg production will slow.

 

[drumstick diva]

Have you ever allowed her to hatch a brood of chicks? Maybe she needs to go through that to straighten out her mama hormones.

 

[TwoCrows]

When a broodies hormones rage, sometimes there is no stopping them. They will brood their feet if that is all that is available! I have a hen that goes broody every summer. I have tried all the cages, the broody dunking in cold water, locking her out of the coop, everything to no avail. And all this only gets her depressed, she stops eating and stops laying completely. I have found that by just letting her set in a nest box, with no eggs, she will set there for about 1 week, get bored, get off the nest and return to laying about a week after that. She still goes broody a few weeks later and the entire cycle repeats itself several times throughout the summer, LOL, but at least she is not depressed, she eats and still lay occasionally.

Good luck with your broody and welcome to BYC!

 

[sourland]

Welcome to BYC. Allowing her to raise a brood of chicks - either self hatched or fostered MAY cause her to have longer intervals between broody spells, but such a hen will continue to go broody throughout her lifetime. Many would love to have her.

 

[strawny]

Thank you everyone for your replies. We had been thinking it might be time to let her hatch some chicks, especially if it might lengthen out the times between broodiness. Would be nice to let her use her motherly instincts too. Otherwise maybe letting her stay in there for a while would be fine too, but would that mean a much greater time until she lays again?
Thanks again

 

[TwoCrows]

If you let her raise chicks, yes, getting back to laying takes a long time. If you let her go broody on eggs, this can cause a long time before they get back to laying. If you let them go broody on nothing...no eggs, then many times they will get bored and stop early. Because their hormones never really when haywire with eggs and the idea of raising chicks, the eggs are more likely to start back up quicker. At least this is how it works in my flock.

 

[Telecaster68]

Well since you only have 2 RIR left you could get a chick from TSC and let her raise it then she probably won't go broody again until next spring.