Does this broody behavior ever stop???

[Mr. Frizzles Hen House]

Ok, so I had some issues the first week determining if my Americana was broody or not. But she definately is!!! She gets all poofy and talks up a storm. But this has been going on since before the new year. She cones plowing out the hatch door in the am for treats with the other 8 girls and 1 roo, but beyond that she's in a nest. At first I'd find her on an egg ( I collect at least two times/ day). I boot her off at least once a day. Now I find her still nesting, but not on anything. The eggs are in the other nests from the other hens and she is obviously not laying ( that's normal right, new to all this). When will she get it out of her head there isn't anything to raise??? I've read about seperation, wire cages, etc. on other threads, but I really don't want to do that. When will it naturally end???

 

[92caddy]

All depends on the hen. Ive had some stay that way for more then a month, some only a week or so. If you want her to stop, you are going to have to keep taking her off the nest and maybe even pen her in a wire cage or something............Good luck........

 

[Mr. Frizzles Hen House]

If I just keep waiting for her to snap out of it, how often should I remove her from the nest?

 

[92caddy]

Every chance you get, its much easier to just put her in another pen or wire cage or whatever...............

 

[FarmGirl01]

I did the wire cage thing. It works. But I have also removed the hen SEVERAL time a day. It works to. Just keep at it, she will quit sometime.

 

[Mr. Frizzles Hen House]

Thanks! I think I'm going to just keep the nest booting up for awhile. I don't have a small enough cage to put in the coop so she's not completely removed. Silly chicken! My husband already thinks I'm chicken crazy. Wait till I recruit him and the kids for nest removal duties

 

[Kitchenella]

I don't know how your coop is arranged but I have one opening to the run and another opening to the yard. I kicked my broody out of the coop and kept her in the run for 3 days and nights. (I picked 3 days when the weather was supposed to be relatively warm and dry). At the time my other hens were not laying so I could let them out in the pen during the day and keep the coop shut. If I have to do this again I'll let the other hens out in the yard with the side door open so they can get back into the nest if they need to.

After the 3 days my broody was back to normal and after a week was laying again.

Peggy

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

Don't be suprised if when she stops, in a few weeks she starts again. I've found some hen won't stop. I have a silkie cross that went broody 5 times last year. i couldn't of stopped her if I tried.

 

[Shared Acres]

My broody Oprah I had to finally lock her in the bathroom for 2-3 days to get her to stop. 2 months later, she's broody again.

I'm going to let her raise babies this time though. She's sitting on golf balls until the babies hatch. (She has bad eye sight and I'm afraid if I give her eggs she won't notice one isn't under her.)

 

[LynneP]

I had one who held out for 2 weeks, I found that collecting the eggs earlier helped. She has plucked a circle of feathers off her belly to warm the eggs but she has stopped. She laid the first egg in 2 weeks yesterday so I'm hopeful she'll return to normal soon.