First Experience with a Broody Hen

[JCRbrahmas]

hi. this is my first time with a new flock of chickens and i have what i believe is a broody chocolate orpington hen (pictured here with her 2 BFFs, a silver and isabel orpington). i usually collect eggs daily and noticed a couple days ago she was sitting in her nest box. thinking she was in the process of laying an egg I left her alone. After a day or 2 I started to worry and researched some on broody hens and realized it was probably ok to pick her up. I did that and I found there were no eggs at all! She is apparently just sitting in the nest box with no eggs at all.

The strange thing is my silver orpington which was previously laying is not laying at all now. Maybe that just the time of year because I live in N.H. and it is cold and winter. These birds are really my pets so I am not really focused on maximizing egg production, I just want them to be happy... heck I have been buying spinach from the grocery store because it has been so cold and frozen the last month. Even fed them left over scallops I bought right off the boat (which they loved by the way).

So is it ok to just ignore this behavior and let it play out and they will start laying again later in the year, or should I intervene and put her on the roost at dusk to change this behavior? Roosters are prohibited because I live in the city limits, so this is really about what is best for the birds over the long term. Thank you for any comments or suggestions and I apologize if this is posted somewhere. I read articles and posts as much as I could and did not find anything.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Hens stop laying when they go broody, and most will set on nothing and everything.

You can leave her, but it could be detrimental to her health as she will sit until she loses enough weight to break by herself. It's best if you aren't going to use her currently to break her by putting her in a wire bottom crate slightly elevated off the ground for 3-7 days. Provide food and water and check her after 3 days by releasing her to see if she returns to the nest.

The longer she is broody the longer it can take to break them. She will be broody again. Most will be broody every 2-3 months throughout the warmer months if they are prone to going broody.

 

[Shadrach]

hi. this is my first time with a new flock of chickens and i have what i believe is a broody chocolate orpington hen (pictured here with her 2 BFFs, a silver and isabel orpington). i usually collect eggs daily and noticed a couple days ago she was sitting in her nest box. thinking she was in the process of laying an egg I left her alone. After a day or 2 I started to worry and researched some on broody hens and realized it was probably ok to pick her up. I did that and I found there were no eggs at all! She is apparently just sitting in the nest box with no eggs at all.

The strange thing is my silver orpington which was previously laying is not laying at all now. Maybe that just the time of year because I live in N.H. and it is cold and winter. These birds are really my pets so I am not really focused on maximizing egg production, I just want them to be happy... heck I have been buying spinach from the grocery store because it has been so cold and frozen the last month. Even fed them left over scallops I bought right off the boat (which they loved by the way).

So is it ok to just ignore this behavior and let it play out and they will start laying again later in the year, or should I intervene and put her on the roost at dusk to change this behavior? Roosters are prohibited because I live in the city limits, so this is really about what is best for the birds over the long term. Thank you for any comments or suggestions and I apologize if this is posted somewhere. I read articles and posts as much as I could and did not find anything.

I think you've got the right idea.
I'm not quite sure what happens with other peoples hens. I have had to use a confinement method to stop a broody hen from sitting a couple of times in eight years.
At the start of this week I had 7 broody hens, all with egg piles. I don't collect eggs on a regular basis.
During the week I've confiscated the eggs from six of these broody hens. Some sit on nothing for the rest of the day, others stomp around swearing at everything that gets close to them. Some look to see if any other hen will let them join in sitting on another pile of eggs. I have one broody hen left who I'm going to let hatch a few eggs. The rest are all on their perches with their groups tonight and I don't even have a wire cage.
Yes, if she is sitting on unfertile eggs there isn't much point in letting her continue. You could let her sit for the full 21 days and as long as she gets off the nest to eat drink and poop, she should be fine.
You will of course not get any eggs for a while.
If you don't want her to sit, just take the eggs away and if she is sitting on nothing at roost time, as you mention, just put her on the perch for the night.
I really don't understand what happens to other chicken keepers that demands locking hens in wire cages for days on end.
My advice, try the nice option, just take the eggs away.

 

[Ribh]

It sort of depends on your hen. Taking eggs away from mine doesn't stop them being broody. I hoy them off the nest & out of the coop ~ or they keep returning to the nest. I don't have a cage so that's not an option. I sometimes put frozen water bottles near the nesting boxes. Broody hens have higher body temps & this helps a little to cool them down & discourage broodiness. You must keep an eye on them to make sure they get off the nest @ least once a day to eat, drink & poop if you decide to let them brood.

I lost a hen last summer while I was away. She went broody on my hubby & hid in the long grass to brood. He's got a broken back so couldn't hunt our terrain for her & she just went into a trance & starved herself to death. I did manage to find her when I got home but they can be pretty stubborn so you need to keep an eye on them.

 

[JCRbrahmas]

Thank you for the comments. That is very helpful. I think I will try moving her to roost at night. Best of clucks to you all.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Thank you for the comments. That is very helpful. I think I will try moving her to roost at night. Best of clucks to you all.

This won't work. She will return to the nest asap. You need to keep her away from her nest consistently for more than three days.

 

[aart]

This won't work. She will return to the nest asap. You need to keep her away from her nest consistently for more than three days.

Agrees that it's not likely this will work.

Sometimes tossing broody off the nest whenever you see her on there, including putting them on roost at night, can break broody that's not too committed. I've got one now I'm trying to dissuade, but thinks I'll have to pull out the breaker crate soon.

Here's the signs that I look for:
Is she on nest most the day and all night?
When you pull her out of nest and put her on the ground, doesn't she flatten right back out into a fluffy screeching pancake?
Does she walk around making a low cluckcluckcluckcluckcluck(ticking bomb) sound on her way back to the nest?
If so, then she is probably broody and you'll have to decide how to manage it.

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 or run 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.

 

[JCRbrahmas]

Thank you Aart and OldHenLikesDogs. It looks like my moving my broody hen out does next to nothing. I have discovered that if I leave the nest box door open to the outdoors, then she does not go back in immediately and eats and drinks. However, when I close the nest box she goes right in immediately. I see only a little chicken poop in the nest boxes so I suspect she is getting up on her own even though I have not yet witnessed her doing so. ***

My problem is that I do not have room in my 4 by 6 coop for a separate cage. Also, because it is 20 F outside, I would need a way to heat her water. Those options are not really available.

So if I just wait this out, will her brooding behavior likely end after 21 days or so? I'm hoping I can do just that, wait it out, make sure she gets enough to eat and drink, and then return to normal some time in April.

 

[aart]

My problem is that I do not have room in my 4 by 6 coop for a separate cage. Also, because it is 20 F outside, I would need a way to heat her water. Those options are not really available.

So if I just wait this out, will her brooding behavior likely end after 21 days or so?

Maybe, maybe not.

You could keep the breaker crate out in the run, then put her on the roost at night after dark. I often let them out to roam an hour before roost time and block the nests at that time.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

In my experiences it takes 2-3 months for a hen to break on her own. I have left them go.

Something to keep in mind is broody once, more than likely broody over and over again.