Fed up with broodiness

[JemimaP]

I have 3 Pekin bantams (cochins) a year old. Two of them have been broody twice this spring already and once last autumn. I can break the broodiness using a broody jail that I have left set up ready but I’m sick of it. I feel sorry for them being locked up as they’re normally freerange all day so it just makes me feel sad. If I just leave my broody to be broody will she be ok? I know she’ll lose condition and I won’t get any eggs but I just want to know if it’s ok just to do nothing and let nature run it’s course?
I don’t have a cockerel and I don’t want to hatch eggs. She’s not sitting on anything just flat as a pancake and clucking if I move her.
Normally takes 2 nights in broody jail that’s all but I’d like to just leave her be if she’d be ok?

 

[Morrigan]

I would either continue to break or, and an alternative, see if you have a friend or neighbor who wants chickens. Then you can either buy fertile eggs for her to hatch, or wait until she has been broody a couple of weeks and slip some days-old chicks under her. When they are weaned, you can give the youngsters to the friend/neighbor.

Brooding is hard on hens, and depending on how dedicated she is, she could brood herself into serious health issues.

The final alternative for you is to give these these hens away to someone who wants broody hens, and research some less broody breeds to keep. If feasible, this may be the best option for you, because this is going to be a long term issue for you.

 

[Shadrach]

I have 3 Pekin bantams (cochins) a year old. Two of them have been broody twice this spring already and once last autumn. I can break the broodiness using a broody jail that I have left set up ready but I’m sick of it. I feel sorry for them being locked up as they’re normally freerange all day so it just makes me feel sad. If I just leave my broody to be broody will she be ok? I know she’ll lose condition and I won’t get any eggs but I just want to know if it’s ok just to do nothing and let nature run it’s course?
I don’t have a cockerel and I don’t want to hatch eggs. She’s not sitting on anything just flat as a pancake and clucking if I move her.
Normally takes 2 nights in broody jail that’s all but I’d like to just leave her be if she’d be ok?

I'm on my eighteenth outbreak of broodiness this year.
I think it was about the same last year, and probably the year before that and prob......
I have not had to resort to a broody jail for seven years.
All the chickens here free range.
I take their eggs away. They normally still sit on the empty nest for up to a day.
If they are still sitting at roost time I lift them off the nest at dark and place them on their roost in their coop. Sometimes they go back to the nest the next day, but usually by about mid day they go out in search of food and company.
The most stubborn broodies get to come and stay with me for a day or two. I have concrete floors and this helps cool them down.
Two tips.
If necessary block the nest off after day one so they can't sit in the nest.
Don't feed them at the nest. Take them off even if they are sitting on an empty nest, make sure they are fully standing; none of this half crouch to eat stuff.
You may find that 'broody jail' is unnecessary, particularly if you free range.

 

[AquaDuck]

Bantam Cochins can be notorious brooders... Personally I wouldn't just let her sit on nothing, she won't break on her own and she'll both loose condition and miss out on summer. 2 days in "jail" sounds better than weeks in a nest with infertile eggs. The sooner you debrood her, the better's the chance it works too.

As for a more permanent solution, you could try refurnishing their coop so the nest boxes aren't attractive to brood in. Make it airy and hard, not soft and warm. Then their instincts will hopefully not kick in quite so often.

 

[Morrigan]

@Shadrach brings up a good point -- you might be able to avoid the "jail" by being diligent about pulling them off the nest box. I've broken a few broody hens in the way he describes -- pulling them off the nest, waking them from their trance, and putting them out in the yard and on the roost at night. It's usually taken me closer to 2 or 3 days to break their broodiness that way. I've had a couple of stubborn hens who just would not give it up, but in those cases, I let them hatch or foster chicks.

you could try refurnishing their coop so the nest boxes aren't attractive to brood in. Make it airy and hard, not soft and warm.

I had a similar thought, but depending on what your free range area looks like, it might induce your hens to start laying and trying to brood in some quiet corner of your yard.

 

[JemimaP]

Thanks everyone. Basically I shouldn’t just leave her though.
Flipping chickens! I love them but arrrgghhh!

 

[SurferchickinSB]

I have 3 Pekin bantams (cochins) a year old. Two of them have been broody twice this spring already and once last autumn. I can break the broodiness using a broody jail that I have left set up ready but I’m sick of it. I feel sorry for them being locked up as they’re normally freerange all day so it just makes me feel sad. If I just leave my broody to be broody will she be ok? I know she’ll lose condition and I won’t get any eggs but I just want to know if it’s ok just to do nothing and let nature run it’s course?
I don’t have a cockerel and I don’t want to hatch eggs. She’s not sitting on anything just flat as a pancake and clucking if I move her.
Normally takes 2 nights in broody jail that’s all but I’d like to just leave her be if she’d be ok?

I’ll let one of mine be broody for nearly 3 weeks and then I just got sick of it because she had lost so much weight I was worried, so in the evening when I let them out to free range I just would lock the doors to the run and the coop and after a few days she snapped out of it. I don’t think it’s a good idea to let them be broody unless they are going to hatch eggs because it is hard on their health.