Frequently broody hen

[Audrey's girls]

One of my girls (Mystery) is frequently going broody. I did let her hatch a clutch of eggs but after all the time and about a dozen eggs she was sitting on - we ended up with just one chick. All the others were taken by crows or just went missing. We called the lone survivor "Lucky" for obvious reasons.
Mystery is once again wanting to sit on the nest and every time I take her out to join the others she scratches around the chicken coop and picks up twigs and places them on her back. Very strange behaviour. Does anyone know why she is doing this. I have 13 girls and 1 rooster, they all spend the day free ranging and come home to roost every afternoon. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Audrey's girls.

 

[staceyj]

The placing of objects (or shavings on their back) is just part of a leftover behavior from when birds would hatch on the ground and try to camouflage themselves for safety.
It’s part of Broody mannerisms.

 

[Audrey's girls]

The placing of objects (or shavings on their back) is just part of a leftover behavior from when birds would hatch on the ground and try to camouflage themselves for safety.
It’s part of Broody mannerisms.

Thanks for that Stacey, Do you have any suggestions of how I can get my little Mystery out of her broody mood. In the past I have isolated her but that only resulted in more work for me as she still took a couple of weeks to 'get over it' This meant that poor little Lucky was left on her own and somewhat bullied by the older hens. Also not an ideal situation. What I do now is take Mystery off the 'nest' several times a day. Sometimes she joins the others out free ranging but still goes back to the nesting box. I also check on her after dark and place her on the roost with the others. At this time I always find Lucky on a separate roost away from the others. I then move her next to Mum (Mystery) and they roost with all the others for the night - usually with Mystery placing her wing over Lucky for protection. It is so cute but I hate to think what would happen to Lucky if Mystery was not around. Any suggestions would be appreciated - I am new at this. Thanks Audrey

 

[aligarysmom]

So this is a suggestion from another person that likes to get the most eggs from her chickens. To break the broodiness she would dunk her in freezing water. Apparently they get hot during brooding and the change it temp breaks the brood cycle. Anyone else heard of this ?

 

[staceyj]

Some breeds are more prone to it.

Breaking a Broody hen is hard and not always successful if she’s very determined.

I had a sweet girl (a Buff Orpington) named Dory who was persistently Broody.
She eventually cycled so quickly that her broodiness would last for many weeks, and her Un-Broody times became shorter and shorter.

Her flockmates were mean to her and she was losing weight and not having enough time in between to gain it back.

I tried the dunking method,
The tossing her off the nest a million times a day method, blocking her from the nest method (which made her frantic), even the dog crate-up high method.
Sadly, None worked for me.

I finally made the difficult decision to re-Home her to someone who wished to hatch chickens but didn’t have a Broody hen in her small flock.

I don’t have a rooster, and live in an area where chicken math is forbidden, and my coop set up isn’t conducive to having a separate area for a Broody mama and her babies.

I wish you all the luck in the world and encourage you to try all methods, or let her try again to sit on eggs to fulfill her desire.

 

[aart]

The placing of objects (or shavings on their back) is just part of a leftover behavior from when birds would hatch on the ground and try to camouflage themselves for safety. It’s part of Broody mannerisms.

Yes, camouflage, but any layer may do this...even if not broody.

Best way I've found to break a broody it the crate,
it may take longer the longer you wait to break the.
The cold water, especially if too cold('freezing') can kill them from shock.
Tho wetting the bird's belly only in cool water before putting them in the crate can help, especially if it's hot weather outside.

If you don't want her to hatch out chicks, best to break her broodiness promptly.
My experience went 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.
Feed and water added after pic was taken.